Beauty and the Beast
by sierra.steinbrecher
Summary: When they returned from their trip, Elsa's parents decided she couldn't contain her powers, so they gave her sister the Crown Princess title and shipped her off to the North Mountain. Then a dragon crashed through her wall. Don't own Frozen or HTTYD, Love fanart.
1. Sight

_ The woman approached the boy, sitting beside his dead friend. Hearing the witch step on a twig behind him, the boy whirled to face her and screamed "You!" He rose from his place at his friend's side and made as if to lunge at the woman."You did this!"_

_ She blasted him back on top of his friend with a burst of her magic and cackled. "Yes I did. And now I will do much more."_

_ "You have twice cursed this land, first with your existence as a mistake of fate and second with the abomination of the supposed dragon alliance. Twice have you shamed our race. And so I place this curse upon you, that unless you are also doubly cursed, there shall be no escape from the form I bring you. Soon all will know of this curse and hate your very existence. They will pursue you to the ends of the earth. But none will again curse you, because they will know what that unleashes. So run._

_ Run, hiccup of fate, mistake of the world."_

* * *

She tried, really she did. But controlling your ice powers, powers that sprout from fear and anxiety, is no easy feat when you're worried sick about your parents, on a potentially dangerous sea voyage. So was it really her fault that, when they came to visit her when they returned, her room was completely encased in ice that was beginning to creep outside the door and windows? Was it her fault that just a few, just a few mind you, tiny blizzards had blown the room to pieces? They were the ones who made her worry.

It's for your own good, they said. You won't have to worry about the kingdom, they said. You can learn about your powers and how to control them, they said. That was right after they stripped her of her position as crown princess, handed the mantle to her sister, and left her on the North Mountain with provisions, some snow equipment, and a promise to visit. That was two years ago, and they still hadn't made good on their promise.

That was enough to make anyone resent their parents, at least a little.

So Elsa felt at least slightly vindicated when she let loose with her powers and built a grand castle that put her childhood home to shame. Dresses that would have scandalized her parents, with their off-shoulder necklines and thigh-high slits, became the princess's usual wear. And don't forget the snowman waiting at the foot of the stairs to clobber them when they finally dared to show up. If she was going to be punished for using her powers, she might as well do something worth punishing with them. A little teenaged rebellion was expected after all, even if she was twenty and no longer in her teen years.

_Still, _she smirked to herself in the mirror, _whoever said rebellion had to stay in those years? _Icing her wild bangs into their windswept look atop her head and letting her straight hair hang loose frigidly down her back, she pictured her mother's scandalized face again.

She could hear the lecture now. "Women do not wear their hair down, in any circumstance!"

"Then how do they wash it?" the blonde would have replied. "How do they let their husbands run their fingers through it like I know Daddy just loves to do to you?" Of course, she didn't actually know that, but there was a fifty percent chance she was right, right? And it would be priceless if she was. Besides, no one was here to see her loose hair, or supposedly improper dress.

Sometimes she wished there was.

Elsa walks down the marvelous staircase leading from her personal bedroom with the adjacent bath and heads for the kitchen on the ground floor. Fire could not rest on an icy floor and not drop the tender through to the next story, after all, so her kitchen was the only room in the castle that had a dirt floor. With a breath of icy wind, the princess knocked open the porthole that allowed smoke to drift up to and through the ceiling and grabbed the bit of a loaf of bread that was left from this month's provisions.

That was the one thing her parents had remembered, to regularly resupply her with provisions. Every month one of the ice harvesters, a man named Kristoff would come with a month's worth of food and firewood loaded on his sleigh. These included to Elsa's modest joy, fresh bread and a small tin of tea leaves or hot chocolate mix. So, for the few days after the supplies had arrived each month, Elsa breakfasted on toast and a warm drink. The man and his companion Sven had arrived only a week ago, so this was the last morning she would have such a luxury for a long time. The food was something she enjoyed.

The company was something she enjoyed even more, small as it might be. The man was in awe of her ice palace and would wander around for hours if permitted. Elsa had shown him the whole castle the first time he'd delivered her supplies, and she'd tried to have something new to show the man every time he turned up. Because it was the ice he was interested in, not her.

The firewood she stacked in a small ice shed outside. The cold never really bothered her, and you didn't light a fire in an ice palace if you still wanted it to be there in the morning. So, only about a fifth of the sent firewood was ever used, usually for cooking, and she sent the excess back for Kristoff to use himself. The man worked with ice for a living, he had to get cold occasionally.

As she toasted the bread and melted ice for the tea, she heard a blizzard raging outside. _Well, it's not me this time. I haven't done that since the third year anniversary of my parents leaving me up here. And it is that time of year. _She went back to her bread without giving the storm a second thought.

With her breakfast toasted and eaten, Elsa strode out of her kitchen and back into the entryway. This would probably always be one of her favorite rooms in the castle. It was the one she created first, and she was always adding new things to it. A wall panel with new snowflake designs, an ice statue in one corner, a redesigned chandelier, it all added to the room in her desire to experiment with the beautiful side of her powers. If her parents ever did come see this place, they would be completely and totally knocked off their feet. The dangerous part had already done that, intentionally or not. It was something blizzards like the one outside did, especially when she was the force driving them.

She climbed up one of the staircases and went back into her room to try a new trick with her dress. She wanted to see if she could make lace out of ice and add it to the sleeves of the dress, as long draping cuffs. She sat down on the bed and began severing the bottom halves of her full length sleeves…

When something crashed through the wall.

**I finally discovered how to make those lines! Yes! I feel like a proper fanfiction author now.**

**By the way, if Elsa seems OOC to you, just remember how she was during 'Let It Go', and add the resentment of two years alone. Understand her better now?**

**Have fun guessing what the beginning was about, and do not think that just because I used that title that I will stick to it. Anyone who read 'A Twist in the Story' knows that I love throwing my readers for a loop.**

**If you want me to do review challenges or twist reveals for this story, let me know, preferably in a review. If you don't know what I'm talking about, PM! I love to hear from my readers.**


	2. Touch

Her first thought was, _what is that thing?_

Her second thought was _I'd better fix the wall. Then I can deal with whatever that is._ A blast of her icy abilities and the wall began patching itself up, despite the wind's efforts to maintain the jagged edges. Once the air was calm and the blizzard rebuffed, Elsa slowly approached the black heap in the middle of the room.

It was moving slightly, the rise and fall of its back in time with the sound of breathing. So it wasn't dead. The thought may have relieved her, but she wasn't about to get too close to the…whatever it was. So she summoned a long pole of ice and gently nudged the black skin with the round, blunted tip. In response, the creature lifted what could only be a wing and swept the pole aside. Not satisfied with such a response, she nudged it again, this time closer to where the wing sprouted from the animal's body. The creature turned its head so that its face was no longer visible as the creature began to uncurl and Elsa got her first real look at the animal that had crashed through her walls and invaded her home.

It was a black dragon.

The scales caught some of the light reflected from the newly formed ice wall and shimmered slightly, making the dappling of grey over the dark hide more obvious. When it lifted one of its wings to get it out of the way while it straightened out its tail, the tip nearly reached to the top of the ceiling, which was a good twenty-five feet above them. The tail was a further eight feet with two fins on either side of the end and a smaller set of wings at the base, but as she followed the graceful line from the tail along the length of the dragon, she noticed that one of its legs didn't touch the ground properly. Further investigation revealed the half of the lower part of the back left leg was missing. Odd. How had that happened?

Then a shriek echoed through the room as the beast tried to extend its other wing. The dragon broke gazes with her and turned to the afflicted appendage. The tip of the wing hung at an odd angle, the bone at the front of the wing along the furthest edge broken. Elsa gasped. _That must have happened when it crashed through the wall. _But her gasp had reminded the dragon of her presence, and it whipped its head towards the girl, catching her in a gaze that put her own jewel-like eyes to shame. But Elsa didn't notice that. She only knew that the beast was staring at her and starting to walk towards her.

Fear flooded her veins as Elsa's powers began to whip up a small storm around her. Turning away from the beast, she quickened the storm with her powers until snow raged around her in a small but fierce tornado and ice began to form into hail and sleet. None of this stopped the sound of the animal's progress towards her. The princess backed away until the bed post was firmly pressed against her back, halting her movement. She attempted to send more ice shards its way, but she didn't dare look at it to better aim. These failed shots increased her fear until the wind was like a million icy blades racing around the two. This quickened and sharpened wind hit the animal's injured wing and it let out a high pitched moan, forcing Elsa to look at it again. But this time, the eyes spoke instead of skewering. It was a language full of emotions, fear, pleading, pain, and even a little hope. How could a mere animal know such emotions? Or was she simply reading too much into those eyes?

But in the face of that gaze, something within the icy girl stilled. The wind died down and the cold projectiles caught in the micro-blizzard littered the ground, ice shards and snowflakes alike. Elsa walked through and around these to reach the dragon, whose head was still towards her, asking for help with those greener-than-should-have-been-possible eyes. As she drew nearer, the princess began to notice some details, like the modified frill that was pressed against its neck and the way its pupils seemed to expand the closer she got to it. Then, about four paces from the beast, she halted. What if the dragon was just trying to get her to come close so it could attack?

She almost ran when the dragon lurched forward, thinking it was pouncing. Then it stopped moving and she saw the reason for the lurch. Its missing limb made walking difficult, although not impossible. Still, if it wanted to successfully attack her it would do it from the air. But it was still on the ground, she reasoned. It must not want her for food. But what then?

Then something warm touched her hand. She looked down and jolted backwards, removing her hand from where the dragon had rested its snout underneath it. It cooed at her again and lowered its head, inviting a similar gesture from her. Hesitating a moment more –the thing could easily take half her arm off with those jaws!- she extended her hand until the palm was only an inch from the dragon's nose. Then the combination of rough leathery skin and smooth scales brushed against her palm again, the dragon sighing with contentment and, perhaps, relief. That was certainly what Elsa felt like. In fact, the emotion was so strong that she fainted then and there, falling forward on top of the dragon's head.

Poor girl.

She had absolutely no idea what she was getting into.

**Thanks to Angryhenry, josephagc, fanfictionmakermachine, LDJ11, Faisyah865 (for helping to monitor my spelling), dimkaxoxo, and Zehava (I'm working with the movie, so it's no Excellinor.) for reviewing.**

**Kudos to Samanthadoodles for the cover image!**

**Tell me what you think! How were my descriptions? Did the part about the wing make any sense?**


	3. Dragon, Meet Ice

The dragon walked over to the bed with his odd lurching gait and gently deposited the top half of the unconscious girl on top of it. Levering his head underneath her legs, the dragon placed them on the bed as well so that she was lying flat. He looked at the furnishings. The pillows were out of the question he had to keep at least one forepaw on the ground or he'd topple over, and to elevate her head and push the pillow under it at the same time he'd need both paws. But blankets he could do.

The dragon walked to the foot of the bed and retracted his teeth. Come to think of it, he probably should have done that before when he was trying to get her to bond with him. It might have decreased the fear factor and made the whole thing easier. Oh well, she'd done it in the end.

He grabbed the edge of the blanket in his gums and pulled so the remaining edge slipped out from underneath the princess and onto the floor. With the blanket still in his mouth, the dragon walked over, when suddenly the blanket was no longer in his mouth. What on earth? He walked back over to where he'd somehow lost his grip and swirled it around with the tip of his good wing. There, right where he'd bitten it was a place where a chunk was missing. He brushed his tongue around the edges of his mouth, but didn't find anything besides some ice water, which he swallowed and didn't think any more of.

Well, since he didn't want to put any more holes in the thing, he scooped it up in his good wing and carried it over to the bed, dropping it in a heap on top of the girl. After a few tugs with his paws and good wing, not his mouth since he didn't want to wreck it, the girl was suitably covered. His host taken care of, the dragon set out to make his own sleeping arrangements. That blizzard had been no picnic to fly through, and he would need his energy for tomorrow's dealings with the girl. He walked away from the bed a few strides and blazed a small oval where he laid down. He gave the girl on the bed one last look, felt a slight wetness against his stomach scales, and promptly fell through the floor.

When he landed, belly down with his wings sprawled to either side of him, he thanked Thor that he hadn't landed on either one of them. But still, why had the floor given way like that? He looked back up at what had been the floor and was now the ceiling and noticed the drips coming from around the edges of the impromptu skylight. An idea blossomed in his head and he danced below the hole to confirm it. Catching one of the descending drops, he tasted ice water. He was right! This whole building was made of ice, or at least the parts that looked it. Curious, the dragon looked around in search of a place that wasn't ice where he could bed down for the night and caught a glimpse of brown through one of the doorways. He walked towards it with his odd, lurching gait and practically pounced on the dirt floor of the kitchen. This was perfect! He lit up the ground with a well-placed fire stream and settled down for a nice long nap.

* * *

When Elsa came to, she was surprised to find herself in bed with the covers haphazardly drawn over her. _Did I dream the whole thing? _But the holes in both the blanket and the floor proved otherwise. What had the dragon done to put a hole in her floor, and why would it bother with the blanket? Unless it was going after everything in the castle! Elsa jumped to her feet and began racing around the room, trying to find more damage and mending the hole in the floor on the run. The blanket she would take care of later. Once the bedroom had been sorted and checked, she moved on to the entryway.

Had he wrecked one of the statues? Blasted the walls? Oh, she hoped the chandelier was still hanging. She raced into the room, thinking to find scorch marks and destroyed creations, but there was nothing wrong with the room. A small puddle had gathered below where the hole had previously been, but a small burst of magic and it was just another part of the floor, without the decoration, but harmless enough. But her relief was tempered by a question. Where was the dragon?

She searched all the other rooms, the parlor, the dining room that she never used but built in the home of a visit, the bathroom that as really quite ingenious, but found no melted ice, no scorch marks, and no dragon. Still, there were plenty of other places to check, like the balcony she'd added, the ballroom she'd decorated with a snowflake theme, and of course the kitchen. She'd go there first.

She walked through the doorway and almost stepped on the beast's black tailfin. So this was where it had run off to. She gave the room a quick scan to ensure that no harm had been done. There was a slight burning smell, but no damage. Then the beast shifted slightly in its sleep and Elsa saw the burned earth underneath it. Ah. So the hole in her room's floor had been its first attempt at a bed. She was surprised the other rooms didn't have melted spots as well. The beast must be intelligent if it knew not to make the same mistake twice. She chuckled to herself. In that case, it was probably smarter than most people she knew, not that she knew all that many.

The beast's movement in its sleep had exposed its underside and Elsa gave it a quick look to determine the gender. Ah, so the dragon was a he. Well, she'd just sit here and wait for him to wake up. Didn't want him wandering off again and making a mess of things, right? Her ice palace wouldn't last a week with an unsupervised dragon inside its walls.

While it slept, Elsa took the opportunity to get a better look at its broken wing. From the way it was sprawled out beside the dragon, the princess could detect three bones, two short ones nearest to the body and one long one that held out most of the wing. This last bone had others stretching out from the same joint, helping to hold the wing open. Elsa looked at her own arm. If she compared her bones to the dragon's the joint between the two shorter bones was its elbow and the joint with multiple connections was the wrist. So it, no he had broken the equivalent of a human thumb, although his was much longer and stronger. Perhaps he would let her set it in an ice cast once he woke up. It had been her walls that had broken the wing, after all. The least she could do was help.

**I laughed my head off when I wrote the part where the dragon (no, I won't tell you who he is!) fell through the floor. Who else liked that? **

**If you look at Toothless' wing very carefully when he folds it, you'll see that he has three bones and a lot of fingers. **

**The fifth reviewer for this chapter will get one question answered.**


	4. Mending

The first thing the dragon saw when it woke up was blue. A blue dress to be precise, on a girl with blue eyes sitting with her back to the blue wall. Ah. It was the girl he'd put to bed. Then why was she down here? The dragon brought its legs underneath it, ready to jolt up and out of the room when the girl reached out and placed her hand on his snout. She learned fast.

Elsa scratched at the scales experimentally and the dragon leaned into her touch. "That's better," she cooed at the newest inhabitant of her castle. "Would you like some breakfast?" The dragon bobbed his head up and down in a crude nod and she walked to the icebox where the cold food was stored. She might live in a palace of ice, but that didn't mean she didn't have a special place for cold foods. And the icebox was made with especially thick walls and a door that sealed tightly shut when closed. She pulled out some fish, a steak, and various vegetables and set them in front of the dragon. Since she didn't know what he ate, this was the best she could do.

When he went right for the fish and began scarfing it down, Elsa let a smile creep onto her face. Fish was another part of the provisions she didn't much care for, and Christophe hated them as well, so she had quite the stock. While the beast was eating, Elsa crept around to his right side where the injured wing was spread out, no longer at such a weird angle. She brushed the tiniest amount of ice against the break when the wing suddenly folded in. Okay. So she'd have to get him to let her tend that.

Elsa strode back to his head and began running her fingers along the skin as he ate. He didn't seem to mind when she touched him, except for that wing. He finished the fish and turned back to her, curiosity written all over his face. She was about to ask him about his wing when a strange noise emitted from his throat.

It was a cough combined with a laugh, and he jolted along with the noise. He looked away from her, staring at the opposite wall.

Then the sound came again, along with another jolt. Three more followed in quick succession. It took all of Elsa's royal training not to laugh when she realized what was going on. The dragon had the hiccups!

He couldn't have been more embarrassed if fire had started coming out of his nose along with the sounds. He just had to go and scarf those down, didn't he? And now his host was a hair's breadth away from laughing at him. "I didn't know dragons got hiccups," his host commented diplomatically. _ Not if they don't act like pigs, _thought the dragon, annoyed with himself and the circumstances.

"That's going to be your name." He turned to his smiling host. "I can't very well call you 'dragon' or 'beast' while you're here, can I? So Hiccup will be your name while you're staying here."

He gave her a look of pure exasperation. "You can't leave with your wing like that. Bones take time to heal. And you did break it on my walls, so I feel obligated to help." He flopped his head back down on the ground, eyelids at half-mast. She could practically hear the sarcasm in that look. "Could I set your wing?" His head came up off the floor so fast she was afraid he cracked his neck. "I'll give it a cast made of ice, to keep it at the right angle and numb the pain." He gave her a skeptical look, but extended his wing so she could reach the injured portion.

Smiling her thanks, she sat down close to the injury and gently placed her hands on the wing about six inches above the break in the bone. The dragon, now christened Hiccup, winced slightly, but didn't pull away like he had earlier. Slowly, she moved her hands upwards over the break as the ice formed beneath her fingers. When she reached another six inches above the injury, she took her palms away from the wing and examined her handiwork.

The ice was thick around the front portion where the bone held the skin taught, creating a shield and a support for the mending bone. From that point, it fanned out over the wing, painting the black backdrop with snowflake and frost patterns before gradually dying away over the black skin of the appendage. When Hiccup folded the wing into its proper position at his side, the ice along the leathery portion bent with the skin, much like her ice fabric. He furled and unfurled his wing several times, noticing how the patterns remained intact and the decreased pain from the cold's numbing effects. He finished inspecting her creation and turned back to her. With a gentle warble, he reached up with his neck and brushed his cheek along hers. _ Thank you. _"You're welcome, Hiccup. Can I have my lunch now? You are blocking my kitchen," the princess gently teased.

With a small huff in the direction of the broken moment, he slinked back into the entryway, giving her room to cook again. She gathered some of her firewood from that morning and was about to light it when a small blue blast shot from the doorway. She looked at the dragon, one eyebrow raised, but he was determined not to give her the satisfaction of a staring contest, and so remained stubbornly turned outwards. She laughed and began to cook her midday meal.

**Elsa just couldn't resist embellishing the cast, just a little. Now to address some issues that have cropped up.**

**Elsa is twenty in this fic. It's been two years since her parents went on that trip. In the movie, three years later she was of age, which I read as twenty-one.**

**In the lat chapter, Elsa figured out Hiccup's sex, and I know what some of you were thinking, but most animals keep those parts inside themselves until they are needed, so it's more like looking at a male horse than a male human, guys.**

**That said, I love being able to write this stuff because it means that the readers are communicating with me! Keep reviewing!**


	5. Rooms

Elsa finished her lunch of hot onion and ham soup while Hiccup explored the entryway. The cold of the floor beneath him was forgotten in favor of the ingenious things in the room. Keeping his mouth far away from anything meltable, which was everything, he examined the different statues and climbed one of the staircases with some degree of difficulty to get a better look at the way the chandelier attached to the ceiling of the room. He was about to extend his good wing to try and nudge the structure with the tip to see if it would move when Elsa came into the room.

He immediately drew his wing back in, a bit sheepish that she'd caught him at such a moment, and bounded down to where she stood. She scratched him of the head and exited her castle, Hiccup following. Their path led away from the stairs and around the base of the castle. If she didn't want to constantly wake up to a dragon in her kitchen, she'd have to build another room with a ground floor. Besides, it was fun to watch Hiccup's expression change as he walked around the icy structure. His eyes almost looked like they could pop out of their head, and were almost completely black. Elsa decided to have a little fun.

The dragon jolted upright from the shock of something hitting his right ear flap and jerked his head in the direction of the ice ball's origins. Elsa was standing there, cool as you please, at least she would have been if not for the tiny smirk. Hiccup turned back to the ice palace, putting a wing down for balance so he could move his left forepaw around in the snow.

A moment later, and the supposed Ice Princess had the remnants of a dragon-thrown snowball in her hair. Shaking her head, the girl threatened in a mock serious tone, "Is that a declaration of war?" A snowball to the knees was her answer, and the dragon was laughing his head off.

In answer, she encased his head in a fluffy cloud, blocking his vision enough for her to build a small hill of snow to hide behind and an entire fleet of snowballs. The moment she was ready, the cloud disappeared and the dragon had a face full of snow. Hiccup ran from the assault and the blonde thought for a moment that she'd won. "Giving up so easily?" Then something smacked her in the back and sent her tumbling head first into her small fort. Hiccup drew back his tail, and warbled his victory. Like he would ever give up.

He was a dragon. He had stubbornness issues.

It appeared that the blonde did too, because two seconds later, the dragon was buried underneath a mountain of conjured snow and Elsa was grinning. "Who's the winner now?" The dragon huffed and shook the snow off his body and attempted to do the same with his wing, but shrieked.

Elsa paled and immediately brought up a wind to blow away the snow on his injured wing. "I'm so sorry!" She ran towards him and took his head in her hands, bringing him up to eye level. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I just…" The dragon warbled reassuringly and licked her face. Hiccup brought the wing forward and Elsa gave the ice cast a quick check. Nothing seemed to be broken, so it must have just jarred the bone slightly. "Can you still move it?" Hiccup gave her another of those sarcastic looks and tucked the wing against his body.

She turned away from him and they continued to survey the outer walls of the palace in hope of finding a suitable place to add on another room. As it turned out, there was a spot directly opposite the kitchen that worked nicely. Once she figured out the general area, she and the black dragon went back inside to figure out which room it would adjoin to. The conservatory was sadly lacking in the plant department but had a big enough doorway for Hiccup to fit through without much problem, making it the best option for the addition. She came back out and started gathering firewood from the kitchen.

Hiccup let out a growl mixed with a warble, his way of asking a question. Elsa guessed what he was asking and replied, "We need this to melt the ice. I don't know how to do that yet." To her surprise, the beast rolled his eyes and scooped her up with his head. He carried the protesting princess out to the place that would be his room, dumping her unceremoniously into the snow, and shot a plasma blast at the wall.

Elsa looked from the single stick of firewood she'd managed to hold onto and back at the dragon, who stared at her with raised brows and a slight smile in his eyes. _You don't need that. I can do it. _She smiled, threw the stick to the side, and began directing Hiccup's blasts at certain portions of the wall.

After the wide, but not tall doorway was successfully blasted into existence, Elsa began creating the room. She forwent the floor for obvious reasons and built the three walls of extra thick ice, adding layers to the already existing one. Hiccup didn't seem to melt ice unless he blasted it, but she wasn't taking any chances. The ceilings was simple but with three different skylights of particularly clear ice, letting in plenty of sunlight.

But the ice didn't simply let the light in. It split it into rainbows that danced on the wall, tempting Hiccup into a game of tag. Finally, he let go of his dignity and chased the slivers of color. Elsa laughed at the sight. A big black dragon capable of blasting a hole in her floor chasing lights like a kitten. It was absurd and adorable at the same time.

Now Hiccup had his own place in the castle and in another place as well. But neither of them knew about that second place just yet.

**Keeping Hiccup in character while he's a dragon is not easy. Yes, I admit he's the character I turned into a dragon.**

**I think I have enough backup chapters that I can do a review challenge. If I get ten reviews for this, I'll post another chapter today!**


	6. Playing

On a morning about two weeks after the building of his personal bedroom, the skylights decided Hiccup had slept long enough and sent down a rainbow to dance on his eyelids until he popped them open and knocked the colorful mischief maker off his face. He threw the ceiling a dirty look and walked through the doorway and conservatory with his lurching gait. Elsa popped her head out of the doorway at the top of the stairs the same moment his tail flicked into the entryway. He wondered, _is she going to come out or is it going to be one of _those _days? _She grinned and popped back out of the room. _Okay, it _was_ one of those days. _

Elsa and Hiccup had two types of mornings. Most of the time, Elsa would come down and either meet or wake up Hiccup for breakfast. They would dine on their food of choice, fish for him and usually something hot for her, before setting out to explore some of the mountain and perhaps have a little fun on the way. It wasn't something Elsa was confident enough to do alone, since there was always the chance of slipping into a crevice or getting caught in an avalanche, but with Hiccup's wing on the mend, if he really needed to fly to get him or her out of a jam he could. They had yet to find anything truly impressive, but it gave them something to do and kept Hiccup from getting cabin fever as well as constant irritation from being grounded.

Then there was this kind of morning, when Elsa felt that Hiccup had to earn the pleasure of her company.

The dragon let out an exasperated huff and began climbing the stairs, not an easy feat with only three legs, even if he did put his good wingtip on the ground to provide better support. He only slipped once on the way up, and entered her bedroom without further difficulty. The bedclothes were tucked in and Elsa was nowhere in sight. The dragon shrugged. Bathroom hide and seek it was.

He slinked into the only room in the castle with real furniture. Elsa did like hot baths, so her bathtub was copper instead of ice. Hiccup poked his nose over the edge and confirmed that she wasn't hiding in there. That would have been too easy. He checked the cupboards next. He did this by slipping the very edge of his wingtip through the handles and pulling as gently as he could. Sticking in one of his paws, he confirmed that she wasn't in there either.

Then a muffled sound hit the dragon's ears, making him twist them in all directions in an attempt to pinpoint the direction of the sound. It was coming from the wall behind the bathtub. Hiccup suddenly remembered that the bathroom should have an alcove behind the tub and shot a small plasma blast at the wall.

There was Elsa, doubled over laughing in a most undignified manner. "You…you…you…" and she collapsed into giggles again.

But Hiccup mistook the laughter for shrieking. _Oh gods, did that blast hit her, did I hurt her? _He bounded over and began nosing wherever he could reach. The princess reached out a hand and laid it soothingly atop her dragon friend's head. "I'm fine, Hiccup. It was just so funny watching how you opened the cupboards. It was very cute." He calmed down and nudged her in the waist hard enough that she fell backwards. Then he leapt on top of her and began licking her on the face and hair in revenge for scaring him so badly. But he avoided the dress. He was never going to lick her clothes again. It was just too embarrassing, for both of them.

The blonde scrambled underneath him, trying to push his black maw and flicking pink tongue away from her. "Hiccup, you know that doesn't wash out!" He gave her what the girl could only describe as a smirk and jumped off, exiting the bathroom so she could wash her hair for the second time that day.

After breakfast was concluded, the princess and dragon walked into the entryway. "Let's go, Hiccup." In response, the dragon laid down on the floor. She chuckled a little before turning her voice stern. "We're leaving, now get up." But he didn't. Instead, he brought his head up and motioned towards his back, warbling a command. _Get on. _

Her eyes widened. She'd wanted to ride her friend, but hadn't wanted to ask since it seemed a little demeaning. But he'd just given her permission. With a wave of her hand, an ice saddle rested on Hiccup's back and she, ahem, gracefully sat down in it. She did not leap onto her friend and guest, not at all. The door opened and Hiccup leapt out onto the stairs, making Elsa fling royal dignity to the winds and grab him firmly around the neck.

They raced across the mountainside, Hiccup warbling with joy at the speed and freedom, almost the same as flying, Elsa clinging terrified to his back. They rocketed past the areas they'd already explored, the rock faces Hiccup hadn't been able to climb because of his leg and injured wing and the miniature valleys where the two had had snow wars. Once they'd past the areas they'd explored yesterday, a field that had been littered with snow angels and nonsensical blobs where Hiccup had tried to do the same, Hiccup slowed and let Elsa dismount. She collapsed to her knees and dug her hands into the snow.

She shot Hiccup a reproachful look.

The dragon laughed in reply.

But it quickly died when he saw the cave.

**I had originally thought of this as a filler chapter, but the ending led me to create the next two. I do believe Elsa could be quite playful, especially with how she was as a child.**

**A valiant attempt to get this chapter early, guys, but I usually post at this time anyway. Still, I'll give you another chance. Ten reviews and I'll post another one today!**


	7. Stone

Elsa looked up from the beautiful snow between her fingers when Hiccup growled gently. She looked up and saw the gap in the rocks that had him so tense. "Would you like to explore it?"

_Not with you walking. _He lowered himself again, but she was much more hesitant to get on. "You're not going to go as fast, right?" He huffed. _Of course not. _She got on and they entered the small cave.

As they walked a little deeper into the mountain, Elsa thought about what had transpired that morning. She and Hiccup had played together, but not in the way she'd ever played with Anna. Elsa had initiated the game and Hiccup had jumped in along with her, and she'd been able to use her ice powers without fear of hurting him since that wasn't what they were playing with, at least not until she used it to hide.

And then we he thought he might have hurt her he rushed over to make sure she was okay. What would he have done if she actually had been injured? She looked down at the black dragon beneath her. Was he capable of guilt? He seemed to feel every other emotion, even distinctly human ones like exasperation and humor. And then there were the moments when he was almost sarcastic, or mischievous. Just how human was Hiccup under that scaly hide?

The dragon halted and Elsa saw, or rather, noticed her lack of sight. They were in total darkness now. She bent down and whispered, "Give us some like, friend?" Hiccup obliged and aimed his smallest plasma blast at the ceiling. It must have caught some moss on fire or something because the light lingered long enough for them to get a very good look at their surroundings.

And those surroundings were breathtaking.

It was as if someone had taken a piece of the night sky and hidden it inside the mountain. Glittering walls and ceiling flooded their vision with tiny pinpricks of light, the floor beneath them adding to the symphony of light around them. They stared until the light burned out.

Hiccup shot up another plasma blast and a different portion of the ceiling ignited, making the light glimmer around them once again. Elsa dismounted and knelt, crawling along the floor. For a moment, Hiccup wondered what she was doing, but when she picked up a stone and formed an ice bag with ties to her dress, he joined in, sweeping his tail along the ground and pointing Elsa towards loose stones ahead of them.

It didn't retract from the beauty around them, since the walls themselves contained the same substance, probably a mineral of some sort. Elsa finished bagging the stones in a basket of ice and got back onto Hiccup. The light behind them died as they exited the cave.

Hiccup looked back at the woman sitting atop him. This woman could create beautiful walls of ice that refracted light and made it dance in colors. She could even form patterns in the ice so that the colors formed snowflakes or other shapes. When you thought about it, her creations were in some ways much more beautiful than the cave they had just exited. But she still appreciated its natural beauty to the point where she wanted to take some with her, possibly to integrate into her own artwork. Perhaps her pride didn't run as deep as he thought. Then again, she was royalty. They were trained in prideful actions, so how much of it was training and how much of it was real?

He thought over the different times they'd goofed off together. From the first snowball fight to the time he barfed up a fish as a joke, she'd never treated him as a real animal. Okay, maybe the fish had pushed it, but still. Elsa might have pride but it didn't stop her from having fun and treating him with dignity. She'd let him decide whether or not she rode him, after all.

Once they got back to the castle, Elsa and Hiccup walked into the entryway where the princess paused. She wanted to integrate the stones into the room somehow, but without ruining all the work she'd done on the walls. She relayed her dilemma to her friend. "Where do you think I should put these?" She held out a rock for him to examine.

In response, the dragon motioned for Elsa to put the stone on the ground, which she did with a little puzzlement. Hiccup then shot a small plasma blast at the floor. It wasn't enough to melt all the way through, but it did make a sizeable indentation. With his nose he carefully rolled the rock into the small indentation and motioned towards the spot with his nose.

Elsa's mouth dropped open in a most unladylike manner. It was genius! She froze over the top of the rock, letting the sparkle still show through, and held out another rock to Hiccup. In response, he shot another miniature plasma blast right beneath the chandelier.

The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon was spent placing the stones in the floor and figuring out the best pattern from the balcony. Now the floor had a ten point star of glittering rocks, glazed over with ice to keep people from tripping but not dulling their brilliance. She looked down at the beautiful design from the balcony and threw her arms around Hiccup, who stood beside her.

The dragon froze underneath her touch. When was the last time someone touched him like that, without fear or hatred? It seemed like forever to him, even though it had been less than a year. But he didn't need tender touches, He needed someone to hate him enough to curse him a second time. It hurt to know that, if he ever wanted to break that curse, he would have to leave here, or make Elsa hate him. No. He couldn't do that. Besides, his wing had to heal first. Then he would confront the problem.

And so the pair headed into the kitchen for a warm dinner, courtesy of Hiccup's fire.

**This chapter started when I was listing out the places they'd explored, but I figured something like that had to have its own chapter. I don't believe how much that simple idea affected this story. And congratulations, you got another chapter!**

**By the way, I'm a girl. Please keep reviewing!**


	8. Inlaid

Elsa woke up feeling wonderful. She and Hiccup had spent the previous two weeks decorating every part of the castle with rock shards from the cave. To her, it seemed even more beautiful than before, especially since, once they found some of the smaller fragments, a few no bigger than her fingernails, the designs had become much more intricate and crept up from the floor and onto the walls in many of the castle's rooms. The black sections of the stones highlighted the glittery parts and enhanced the ice by contrast as well. Thinking about the ice fragments made her shoot out of her bed. They were going scavenging again today; this time for fragments for the formal dining room, and she was going to let Hiccup design the patterns for it.

For all that her friend didn't have hands, give him a piece of firewood big enough to put in his mouth and a heap of soft snow or a dirt floor, and the dragon was suddenly an artist. When they'd worked on the lower half of her bedroom walls, he'd drawn the designs right onto the wall by scratching with one of his paws. She looked over at one of them now and smiled.

It wasn't the usual snowflake design or an intricate geometric shape motif. That one was a portrait of her, with only the color of the ice and the stones. Hiccup had used the smallest stone fragments he could find to trace the delicate fringe of eyelashes above her solid stone eyes, the sweep of her gown, and even the creases in her braid. The best part was her smile, mischievous with a hint of humor. How he caught all that with nothing but stone and ice, she would never know.

But the one next to it was her favorite. It was a picture of her and Hiccup together. She was holding his face close to her own, letting their foreheads touch. Her hair was even wilder than usual, but her face was soft, almost content, and even though he was a dragon you could tell Hiccup was smiling in the picture. She sometimes wondered where Hiccup had gotten the idea for the pose, since they never held each other like that. But it was still her favorite.

The picture put her in such a good mood that she decided not to play with Hiccup this morning and simply go wake her big scaly friend up. She descended one of the grand staircases, which now had a cut stone fragment in each step. They'd found that, if Hiccup landed hard enough on a stone, he could crack it right down the middle and give one side a smooth surface that integrated well with the steps. Besides, they were too small for anything but the daintiest designs and too thin to bear up under the stress of the lengthy inlaying process. That involved multiple blasting sessions.

The entryway hadn't changed much except for the floor, which now had a much more complicated star pattern embedded in the ice. They didn't want to mess too much with the castle's foundations, after all. But still, there was a large empty space in one of the walls where they might put something. Perhaps that would be tomorrow's project.

The conservatory was a completely different room. Stone chips crept up the walls like ivy and bloomed in daisies, irises, and bleeding hearts on the floor. There were ice-crafted bushes that had pieces where flowers would be and even a large tree where rocks replaced apples. It was much more beautiful than it would have been if it had held real plants, but she was biased.

This room had a hint of childishness to it as well. Tucked away in one of the corners was an area where a checkerboard design was inlaid into the floor. She stepped over the tiny chipmunks molded out of ice near the mock picnic blanket, admiring the stripe of fragments running down each one's back. A fawn with the same color of spots entered the scene from the other direction, accompanied by its mother and father. She brushed her hand over the fawn's back and fingered the father's rack. That had been tricky to make, since the ice had to be formed around the rock instead of the other way around, but it was quite a sight. The mother's only ornamentation was in her hooves, but she was beautiful nonetheless.

Elsa wished her parents, or even her sister could see this place now and enjoy this beautiful side of her powers. She missed them, terribly, although she wasn't as lonely as she had been before. Her thoughts jumped back to the portrait of her and Hiccup in her bedroom.

The picnic area had been his idea, born out of one of the stories he'd told her during lunch a few days before. She still remembered how hard it was for her to figure out what he wanted with only his body language and the occasional warble or moan. Finally, he'd grabbed a piece of firewood and sketched what he'd wanted in the dirt at her feet. She'd laughed at the idea, but they'd spent the rest of the day finding the right stone fragments and forming the animals, removing the floor pattern for the new inlay of stones, and then enjoying the fruits of their labor by eating dinner amongst the animals. It had been childish and she had loved it.

She was beginning to love the things Hiccup came up with more and more.

But for him to do that, he needed to be awake. So she left the small picnic scene to its animal inhabitants and continued through the conservatory and into his bedroom. This room was much like hers, because the inlaid fragments formed pictures instead of designs. But the only one Elsa recognized was the portrait of the two of them that matched the one she had in her room. Most of the people were shaped very oddly, looking too broad in the shoulders and with too short of legs. A few had massive horned helmets on. Perhaps the dragon had a liking for the Viking tribes up north?

But it wasn't the drawings that held her attention this morning. It was something else, or rather, the lack of something else. Hiccup was gone.

**This chapter doesn't have much action, but I needed to write it. Hiccup's leaving his mark on the palace. The portrait with the two of them is the same as the cover art. Did I got overboard with the rock idea?**

**With a cliffhanger like that, you all probably want the next chapter soon. So, I'll post after ten reviews. Good Luck!**


	9. Gone

Elsa shrugged. Perhaps he was already in the kitchen, waiting for her. He'd done that one occasion, and either she'd appeared or he'd gone to hunt her down when she decided to make it one of _those _mornings. She walked through the conservatory, this time without admiring the icy flora, through the entryway and into the kitchen. He wasn't there either.

Now she was beginning to worry. Where was her friend? Had he already gone to the cave to begin gathering fragments? No, he always waited for her to start such expeditions, not wanting to risk her safely by making her go alone. So Hiccup was still in the castle somewhere.

Elsa went from room to room, her pace picking up as her worry increased. Soon, she was flat out running. Hiccup had grown restless lately, and she often found him staring at the sky. Had he been thinking of flying away, leaving her to her ice and loneliness? It had been four weeks since he'd crashed through her window. His wing was healed by now.

Just as she exited the dining room and rocketed back into the entryway, she stopped running and sat down on a pile of snow that materialized below her. Hiccup's wing was healed. He now had no reason to stay. So he was gone. She had checked every room, but her dragon friend, the most unlikely of companions, was gone. And she hadn't even been able to say goodbye.

Slowly, Elsa got back up and walked towards the stairs leading to her room. If the dragon had really left, shouldn't she be happy for him? Hiccup was a wild animal, as human as he might seem on occasion. He belonged in the sky, with wings like that. Who was she to tie him down? She chastised herself for her selfishness, but couldn't keep the cold from creeping up around her heart. Sitting down on her bed, in the room where she had first met Hiccup, Elsa curled in on herself and began to cry.

Was she fated to lose all those she loved? First she had hurt her sister Anna and been forced to isolate herself due to her abilities. Then her parents had sent her away, from them and the staff she had managed to build friendly relationships with. Now even her dragon friend could stand to stay with her. The moment he was free to do so, he'd flown off and left her with only ice for company.

She saw the portrait through her tears, the one where she and Hiccup stood together, foreheads touching, and it struck her that Hiccup was a magnificent animal. The sweep of his brow, the length of his neck, the breadth of his forehead, the expressive eyes, oh, how beautiful he was. It was like comparing the cave they'd found together to the undecorated walls of ice that used to surround her. She was plain and cold, with nothing but surface beauty to trick you into getting close enough to freeze. He was hidden beneath the danger of his nature, only for his brilliance to unveil in the one moment when he was no longer hers. But she had never noticed until now, because he never acted superior to her. Sarcastic perhaps, but never patronizing, and she would miss that. She would miss everything, even his flaws, like the times he accidentally melted something with his breath or because he sneezed and way his gait shifted because of his missing leg. She wondered if he flew like that too. Oh, how she wished she'd been able to see him fly. She wished he hadn't had to leave.

But everyone always had to leave, preferably before she hurt them.

Then a roar shook the building from the direction of the balcony. Elsa bolted from the bed and smashed open the doors with such force that she left a crack in one, straining her eyes for a glimpse of her friend. A small dark shape flew in the distance, growing larger and more recognizable as it drew nearer to the ice palace. "Hiccup!"

She prepared herself to chastise him for giving her such a fright, but then he spread out his wings for a landing and Elsa's breath went missing. Those wings were fantastic, huge on either side of him and yet so beautiful in their perfect symmetry. The lurch in his walk was completely gone from the beats of his black, mighty, beautiful wings. She had to capture that somehow, whether with a stone inlay or an ice sculpture. Perhaps that was what could go in the empty wall in the entryway. But Elsa forced her head out of the artistic clouds and back onto the ground as Hiccup finished burning off the speed of his descent and drew his wings closer to his body for a neater landing.

The black dragon touched down and was immediately hugged by the princess. They stayed that way for a few moments before Elsa pulled away and smacked him on the side of his head. "Bad dragon! Very bad dragon!" He cringed at the tone and the finger waging in his direction, but laughed inside. He could remember the time he'd said almost the exact same thing. "You scared me to death. Don't ever stay away like that again!" She opened her mouth to continue yelling and Hiccup blew right into her face. She frowned petulantly at his for a moment. "Hiccup, stop that! I'm trying to scold you!" He responded by knocking her over and giving her a thorough licking that made a mess of her hair and wiped away the tear stains.

After a few minutes of failed attempts to escape Hiccup's playful efforts, he let Elsa up to prepare for the day. While she scrubbed, rinsed, scrubbed, and rinsed again to get the dragon saliva out of her blonde hair, Hiccup went downstairs and carefully built up a fire with his paws, lighting it with a smaller plasma blast. Elsa needed to eat quickly today. He had plans.

Flight plans.

**And you earned another one! If this keeps up I'm going to run out of extra chapters. There are several parts of this chapter that will become important later on, particularly after Hiccup shows up again.**

**Someone asked me who was the beauty and who was the beast. Truth is, I intentionally left that up to you. They're both beautiful, and beast-like. Do we really have to box them in?**


	10. Flight

Hiccup finished his breakfast in record time and sat down in the doorway, fixing Elsa with a very meaningful stare. As if knowing that Hiccup wanted her to eat quickly, Elsa took her time, visibly savoring each bite. When a full hour had gone by and Elsa still wasn't finished with her meal, Hiccup gave up staring and simply plopped down on the floor, giving her a look that clearly asked why she hated him so much. Well, that's what he got for scaring her.

The fact that he looked adorable with his eyes closed shut and ears drooping had nothing to do with it.

Finally the girl took pity on her friend and finished the last bite of the bowl without undue lingering and got up to clean the dishes. Once the kitchen was in order, Hiccup picked her up by the ice cape, careful to keep the hotter parts of his mouth away from it, and carried her up the stairs and onto her bedroom's balcony. She crossed her arms and glared up at the dragon, but he just let his eyes crinkle in a smile.

Once they were both standing on the balcony, Hiccup lowered himself so Elsa could get on. She was about to conjure her usual saddle, which was a lot like a chair, when Hiccup motioned towards the sky with his nose. Oh. OH! She immediately shifted the design so it was flatter and more aerodynamic, with handles on the front and stirrups on the sides. "Should I make ties or something?" In response, Hiccup scratched out a design on the icy floor, a vest with ropes that tied onto loops on the sides of a saddle that was almost like a second skin on his upper back. The blonde adjusted the saddle to match Hiccup's design and quickly rehashed her clothing into the riding vest, along with pants so she'd stay decent during the flight. With a hood up around her face to help keep her hair out of her eyes and bindings around her ankles to keep the pants in place, she was ready to take to the sky. Hiccup nodded approvingly.

He offered her his foreleg and she used it to get high enough to sling her other leg over his body, just in front of those magnificent wings. With ropes tied tightly and feet firmly hooked into the stirrups, she scratched behind his ear and whispered, "Let's go, friend." Hiccup stepped off the platform and back into the sky.

It was a gentle takeoff, gliding from the height of one of the highest rooms in the palace. After a few jolting flaps to gain more altitude, Hiccup leveled off, occasionally flapping to keep balance and stay aloft. It was harder to fly this far up, with the thinner air, but he was a night fury. He could deal with it. Besides, from the awed gasps coming from his rider, he could tell Elsa was enjoying her first time in his domain.

Elsa looked in so many directions, she almost gave herself whiplash. First, it was just the thrill of flying, feeling the powerful strokes of the wings beneath her and enjoying the wind. Then it was the view. Her ice palace shone like an enormous diamond, and she could even see Arendelle from here. The summer of the town was a far cry from her eternal winter up here, but somehow that just made the city all the more beautiful. Perhaps someday she would show Hiccup all of the kingdom, not just the little corner the two of them presently occupied.

A moment later, she laughed at the thought. Hiccup could fly! He'd probably seen all of Arendelle and more, places she'd only heard of and some that she hadn't, probably. What a gift he'd given her, letting her share this gift.

Then, to Hiccup's slight surprise, she put one of her hands in the air and let loose a stream of snowflakes. The conjured ice trailed behind them like the tail of a comet, and Hiccup decided to have a little fun. Slowly, he changed his trajectory so that they headed down in a gentle spiral. Elsa kept the stream of ice going, and a moment later the duo turned back to look at where they'd flown. A spiral of ice hung in the air, fine enough for the wind to keep it aloft. But it was only there for a moment before the wind from Hiccup's wings disturbed the shape. Still, it had been beautiful. They glided over the mountain, passed the areas where they'd explored. Suddenly, Elsa saw something and asked Hiccup to land. He complied without too much harrumphing, although he didn't seem to want to leave the sky. But when he saw what had caught her attention, his complaints silenced.

It was a cave, just like the one where they'd found the beautiful black rock that was currently embedded in every inch of the ice palace.

With Elsa still sitting atop Hiccup, the pair entered the tunnel, using Hiccup's plasma blasts when it got too dark. It was an unremarkable trek though drab grey stone for a long time, about half an hour, but then Hiccups light reflected off of something. The pair looked at each other for a moment before Elsa urged him to blast the ceiling. The cavern lit up and showed off its wall of deep red stone.

There was no glitter to it, not even a gleam, but the color was so beautiful that Elsa couldn't resist dismounting and picking up a fragment. "What do you think? Would this look good in some of the flowers in the conservatory?" Hiccup warbled a yes. But when she went to pick up another rock, he gently knocked it out of her hands. "What?"

In response, Hiccup spread his newly healed wing. Oh. Too much weight was sure to strain it. So the princess contented herself with a single stone and walked with Hiccup back to the entrance of the cave. It made her wonder if there were more such caves, and if they also bore stone that could decorate her palace. Still, the ice was beautiful by itself, and too much would ruin the effect. Balance was necessary.

They flew back to the palace, more quickly this time with their load, to make plans for the new discovery and to eat lunch. In the middle of the meal, when Hiccup had his mouth full of fish, Elsa asked, "Hiccup, can I make a statue of you?"

**I can't make Hiccup a dragon and not let him fly for at least one chapter. The second cave is another thing I added for fun that exploded and was suddenly very important to the story. I think I see what authors mean when they just watch the story unravel.**


	11. Caught

Hiccup stood in the entryway, wings spread wide as Elsa made some sketches. The princess was growing frustrated in her attempts. Why couldn't she capture it, that look of airborne perfection she'd seen the day they'd first gone flying together? By the time she was done drawing the wing joint, it was too large in proportion to his body, or his eyes didn't have the right feeling, so she ended up throwing out the ice slabs she was using like blackboards.

The poor things made the dragon wince. She might have been good with ice, but her drawing skills were abysmal. Thor, he wanted his hands back, if only to show her where she was going wrong. She was trying so hard to get all the details right that she was missing the overall picture. Each slab only had a portion of him, not his shape as a whole. He decided to help her out, but talking was useless, so he decided to just show her.

"Hiccup, you can't move! And stop scraping the floor." But the dragon just purposeful croon her way and kept walking, the sound of claws on ice echoing. "Hiccup, I-" Then the dragon picked her up in his paws and flew her to the balcony. "What are you doing, put me down!" Hiccup did, but on the balcony . He looked at her, inclining his head towards the floor of the room. She looked down.

Hiccup was drawn on the floor, but not in the pose she'd used. He was coming in for a landing, with his back leg extended and wings completely unfurled. His front legs were tucked in neatly and his head was bent so he was looking forward. There was no real detail, but Elsa didn't care. She conjured an ice slab and writing utensil and copied the drawing quickly. Dissolving the writing stick, she turned back to Hiccup. "Let's get back down there and see how this new idea works."

She had him pose a few more times, balancing precariously on his back leg, spreading his wings and wide as they could go. Thank goodness the room was so huge. Just as Elsa had finished sketching the graceful lines of his wings, finally capturing the feeling she wanted, there was a crash to their right, the direction of the door that led outside. Dragon and princess turned their heads and saw a blond, slightly rugged man standing in the doorway with two full buckets and a slack jaw. He screamed, turned around, and started running back down the stairs.

Hiccup leapt after the man while Elsa hurried forward on foot. Both of them had bad experiences with revealed secrets, and they weren't about to go through something like that again if they could help it. Kristoff made it halfway down the stairs before Hiccup landed at the bottom, spreading his wings to block any and all escape routes, short of jumping off the staircase and into the crevice below. Hopefully the blond man wasn't that stupid, but even if he was, Hiccup would just catch him like he'd done with a different blonde.

At about the same moment Hiccup landed, Elsa crashed into him from behind, knocking both of them forward and off balance so that they slid rather uncomfortably down the rest of the stairs and came to rest at Hiccup's front feet. The ice harvester took one look at Hiccup's very toothy smile and screamed again.

Ears now ringing, Elsa slapped a hand over his mouth. "It's fine! He's not going to hurt you."

He tore his face out of her hands and shouted, "That's a dragon!"

"Yes, and he hasn't hurt me or you. He could have blasted you while you were on the stairs. Now can I let you up or are you going to run away again?" He glanced back at the dragon, which was now looking over their heads with a bored expression. He nodded and she let him up.

The movement brought Hiccup attention back to the two at his feet and he lowered his head to get a better look at Kristoff's face. He snorted and backed away. The man smelled strongly of reindeer. Once the dragon put some distance between Kristoff and himself, the man relaxed and slowly got to his feet. "Are you sure he's safe," he asked the woman standing next to him.

She laughed. "He's about as safe as you. But it might take him a while to warm up to you. You did scream at him." The man's panicked expression made her laugh again. "Let's go back to the castle." The two walked back up the stairs, with Hiccup flying in circles over their heads.

For the next few hours, Elsa showed Kristoff the modifications she and Hiccup had made to the building and told him the story of how the stone was discovered. He smiled. "I always thought these mountains were hiding something." But Elsa was uncomfortable with the fact that, every time Hiccup was mentioned, the man glanced fearfully in the dragon's direction. These two were her only company, so they needed to like each other. Perhaps a repeat of what Hiccup had done when they'd first met would work.

She decided to lead into it with a bit more detail to finish up the story. "Then we rode out of the cave with the stones. It was a very comfortable trip." Kristoff perked up at that, as did Hiccup. He'd never heard Elsa talk about him this way. "His scales are so smooth, but the skin between them feels like leather. Come on, I'll show you." She hoisted the man up from his perch near doe in the conservatory where they'd ended the tour and pulled him towards the dragon.

Hiccup backed up. Elsa was one thing. He'd been injured when he'd met her, and she had been trapped just as much as him. Despite her ice powers, there was nothing much she could do to hurt him, and he had needed her help. This man could go get others, others with crossbows and canons and other weaponry that could hurt, maim, or even kill him. No, he did not want this man to think he was weak. He had learned.

But, unfortunately for the dragon, the conservatory was not as big as the entryway and he was soon backed up against one of the walls with little room to maneuver. Hiccup tied to keep his face away from the hand Elsa was stubbornly holding in his direction. She could have been a Viking, with issues like that. Finally, Kristoff's hand connected with the side of his face. No one moved.

Then Kristoff slid his hand to the right, gliding over the combination of smooth scales and rough skin. The man's hand was cool, probably from all the ice he handled, and it felt good on his scales, especially those side ones. They tended to get burnt a little when he unleashed his bigger plasma blasts, so the cool skin felt wonderful, and he leaned into the touch in spite of his earlier fears. Elsa trusted this man, and perhaps that was enough. He relaxed out of his rigid posture and let the man run his hands over a greater area, Elsa smiling at both of her companions. Now all she needed to do was get Kristoff to keep the secret of the dragon in the palace.

Oh joy.

**Despite the ice palace, I don't think Elsa would be good at drawing, she's such a perfectionist. She'd want to get everything right from the start, so her pictures would never get off the ground. I have the same problem.**

**Kristoff is in the house! But pay attention, because he's going to say something important.**


	12. News and Musings

After that first touch, Hiccup seemed to calm down into his usual sarcastic self. He was perhaps a little more jumpy, slightly more cautious, an ounce less playful, but it wasn't enough to make her worry. It had taken Hiccup almost a month to warm up to her. She couldn't expect him to like Kristoff within a few hours. After a while, she decided to give Hiccup a break. "Why don't you go flying for a while? You don't want to miss the warmest part of the day." He let out a happy roar. The noon thermals were wonderful fun, and he didn't want to be around the stranger much longer. He was wary of people, especially men who could get weapons at a moment's notice.

Kristoff visibly relaxed. "I was worried he might never go away."

She turned and stared hard at him. "I thought you liked him."

The man flinched at the reprimand in her voice. This was one lady he did not want to get angry. "It's not because of that. I do like him, but I have something to tell you that I don't think he should hear."

"Oh?"

"Someone's looking for him."

Elsa visibly stiffened. "How do you know?"

Kristoff scratched the back of his head. "They said they were looking for a big black dragon missing a leg. Don't you think that sounds an awful lot like Hiccup?"

It did, and she didn't like it. Why would someone be looking for Hiccup? "What did they look like?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I only heard some of the guys on the docks talking about it when I went into Arendelle to gather supplies and pick up the stuff from the palace for you. Now that I think of it, that stuff still needs to be unloaded." So Elsa dropped the subject for a while in favor of unloading the goods her parents had sent her for a month. She was particularly happy to see the tin of hot chocolate and barrel of raw fish.

_Well that's strange, _Kristoff thought. _She's never been happy about the fish before. I'm not even sure what she does with it. _Then Hiccup landed and started nosing around in the barrel and she had to tell him to leave it alone, that she'd give him some later when it was dinnertime. That answered his question. They kept talking as they unloaded, discussing palace news and happenings on the mountain.

Hiccup was flying above them, not wanting to get in the way, but too high up to hear what they were saying. He watched, slightly envious, as the two people talked together. He'd never talk to anyone like that again, not if he stayed here. Elsa was too kind to curse him, but he wouldn't leave her. That lecture had been all too familiar. Toothless had been missing for days and he'd gotten seriously worried about his friend, especially since he wasn't with the other dragons. He would never forget the way his heart ceased for a moment when he saw that great beast lumbering into the Great Hall.

The hug she gave him had been exactly the same as the one he'd given Toothless, glad to see him but holding on tightly so he couldn't escape again. The scolding had been word perfect, with the same finger wagging. But there had been tear stains on her cheeks.

When Toothless had left, he had had Astrid, his father, and the others to go to for support while he waited for Toothless to come back. So he hadn't cried. But she had no one, at least not that he knew of at the time. He was all she had, and so she had cried for him. How could he leave after that?

Besides, he was getting used to talking without words and the flying almost made up for the lack of real hands.

Almost.

And what Viking would venture all the way up here in the hopes of finding him? They probably didn't even know this place existed, let alone that he might make it here. He would be content to live out his days here. How long did night furies live, anyway?

As Elsa and Kristoff walked through the entryway and into the kitchen, the man spotted the mess of ice on the floor from where Elsa had been trying to sketch Hiccup. He picked up a slab, one showing his wings fully expanded, and glance back at the black beast. "Hey Elsa," He waved the piece of ice in the air, "what were you trying to do?"

She laughed. "I was trying to sketch Hiccup, so I could make a statue of him for the room. But I didn't make much progress until he showed me what he thought he looked like."

He looked closer at the dragon. No hands. "How'd he do that?" In response Hiccup lay down on the floor and dragged his left front claw across the ground in front of him. Once he got up, Hiccup motioned for the blond to come over and have a look.

There was a decent drawing of Kristoff in the ice, floppy hat and all. The man gave the dragon an impressed grin. "Wow. You're quite the artist. I can only imagine what you could have done with paint or charcol."

The dragon laughed. Oh, if he only knew.

But that small sentence sparked something inside Elsa, an idea. What if she ground up those red stones and mixed them with some kind of liquid? Could she make paint for Hiccup? She looked over at the two males, Kristoff talking to the dragon who answered back with various sounds, movements, and some images scratched into the ice. She would have to smooth the floor later.

But the idea of paint was very tempting. "Kristoff?"

He looked up from his conversation with Hiccup, who was much more comfortable with him now that they were talking about something he enjoyed, and asked, "Yes?"

"Do you think you could bring some paint with the supplies next time? You can barter for them with the firewood sine I don't use much of it."

Hiccup took in what she'd just said and looked back down at his drawings. Trader Johan had occasionally brought something that had paint on it, and told him a few stories of how the things were colored with a liquid substance, rather like the squid ink he used to write and draw. What could he do with that? Or rather, how would he do it?

Again, he felt the loss of his hands keenly. But he saw Elsa's animated face, discussing the prospect of art supplies with Kristoff who'd walked over to her so he didn't have to shout. Perhaps that was worth his hands.

**I've got a question. How would you post a five-way crossover? Because I've started writing one and have no idea if I would call it and HP/ROTG or a different combination of the Big Four.**

**I told you that red stone was going to be important!**


	13. Family

Kristoff was loading up the firewood Elsa wouldn't need when he dropped the bomb. "Oh, and your parents were getting ready to leave when I came up here. I think they'll be here in about an hour." He continued loading the wood, completely unaware that he had just thrown both princess and dragon into a frenzy.

Elsa's parents didn't like anything out of the ordinary. They'd sent her up here, not only because she'd hurt her sister, but to protect their reputations as a perfect royal family. A harsh reality, but it was necessary to appear so to other kingdoms, so they would be worthy allies and trade partners and not a desirable enemy. Dragons didn't fit into the Arendelle they projected to the rest of the known world. So Elsa and Hiccup had to come up with a way to hide him.

And they had less than an hour to do it.

In the end, Hiccup blasted a small hole in the roof and had Elsa seal him in with a few fish. If they stayed any longer than a day, the two would run into trouble with that plan, but they were both hoping to cross that bridge when they came to it. But before the blonde sealed the room, she carried most of her sketches of Hiccup into the room while he flew the beginnings of the statue in. She couldn't have her parents asking about where she'd gotten the idea.

She ran up to her bedroom and iced her hair up into a bun, sealing the slit in her skirt and giving the dress something that was supposed to be a collar but ended up looking more like a mushroom around her neck due to her lack of concentration as she worried over her family's visit in less than five minutes, if Kristoff's guess was right. A brush of her frustrated hands slimmed it down to a proper collar, and just as she was adding the long sleeves her mother used to harp on about, there was a knock at the door in the entryway.

She gave herself a moment to compose her features back into the princess they expected. She walked to the top of the stairs, waved the doors open, and began to descend the grand staircase as her family looked around in awe.

* * *

As magnificent as the castle was, he couldn't take his eyes off his daughter. It wasn't just that she was dressed in a gown composed of her powers, thought that was certainly cause to stare. He'd left a distraught teenager up here, and had been expecting something similar. But his little girl had grown up.

"Hello Father, Mother, Anna." She nodded to each of them. "I trust your journey was pleasant?"

"Of course!" Bubby Anna ran towards her sister, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her the rest of the way down. "The sleigh ride was so fun, and the views were great. And it's so great to get out of the palace and away from all those lessons. The dancing ones aren't too bad, but I hate the ones about etiquette…" As Anna babbled on about her life, the king took the chance to inspect his firstborn.

She had always been a lovely girl, something her father had taken delight in, but now she wasn't just lovely. Even as Anna pulled her hand and talked excitedly in front of her, her back stayed straight, with her shoulders erect and face composed in a look of polite interest. There was no warmth there.

She was an ice princess.

What had they done?

"What are the walls made of?" The question pulled him out of his doubts and into a bit of a panic. They hadn't told Anna anything. They hadn't thought they'd need to. The two royals had expected the small hut they'd left her in, not a grand palace of her own making. He was about to change the subject when Elsa defied all he had taught her.

"They're made of ice, I made them." The king internally begged his younger daughter not to ask.

"How?" There, she'd asked it. But perhaps Elsa wouldn't…

She did. Snow sprouted from her fingertips, encasing her sister in a small snowman. But Anna just shook off the snow and pounced on her sister, wrapping the rigid girl in a hug. "That's amazing, Elsa! What else can you do?"

His eldest laughed, the first time since they'd entered the room. "A great deal. But before I show you, I think Mother and Father would like to see the rest of the palace. Shall we?" He let himself be led by his two daughters, one bubbling over and the other politely icy.

* * *

_So far, so good, _Elsa thought as she led her family through the entryway and up the staircase into her bedroom. She'd tried to erase all the changes Hiccup had caused by reducing her loneliness, so that her family wouldn't think she'd had any company these past years. It worked like a charm, based on her sister's oblivious attitude and her mother's slight curiosity in the castle. Only her father had looked at her closely, and that could have been any number of things. But he didn't bring anything up so she assumed it wasn't too serious. Or perhaps he didn't want to say anything in front of Anna. Either way, it was something she could deal with later when the two of them were alone.

Still, stripping away Hiccup's influence from her personality was quite eye-opening. This was what she would have been without playful, sarcastic Hiccup? She was so icy and formal, almost indifferent to her own family. Thank goodness she did have Hiccup. She'd already been on her way to becoming this when he'd arrived what seemed like years ago. Had it really only been a little over a month?

Then the group entered the entryway and Elsa noticed the portrait of her and Hiccup together. She couldn't let them see that! Quickly, she coated the area of the wall where the portrait was in a thick coat of ice, hoping no one would notice the small gust of cold air.

No such luck. Mother rubbed her arms and asked, "Is it getting colder in here?"

Panic flashed across her face for a moment before the features schooled themselves into that icy expression again. "I don't know. The cold never bothered me." Her mother turned back to the balcony, admiring the view, and Elsa breathed out slowly. That was way too close.

When the tour of the castle was finished, it was already time for dinner. Elsa was about to head back into the kitchen when Father spoke. "Why don't you and your mother go get the dinner we prepared, Anna? Well eat in that lovely dining room your sister showed us." The princess and queen headed outside to where they'd left their sled, covered in furs and blankets. The king turned to his daughter. "Why did you tell your sister?"

She looked at him with such indifference that it sent a chill down his spine. "I felt no need to hide something when there was no one to hide it from. Besides, how else would I have answered her question?"

"You could have let me handle it."

"The same way you handled the first time? By erasing all her memories?" The girl laughed. "My magic is harmless here. There is no need to hide my ice in such a cold world." The king wanted to reply but his response was cut short when Anna and his wife entered the room again with the basket between them. He would talk more with his daughter, but not right now.

Over dinner, they discussed the wall inlays, which Elsa avoided giving details about, much to Anna's chagrin. For a change in pace, the blonde asked what was going on in Arendelle. The younger girl burst into rapid speech, about this fashion or that lesson, or the boat of strange people that had come into the harbor the other day…

Elsa raised a hand to halt her sister's stream of speech. "What visitors?" She kept her tone light but inside she was shaking. Were these the people looking for Hiccup?

The queen answered, much more calmly than Anna. "A boat entered the harbor the other day, offering furs in exchange for hunting gear and free reign in the mountains. They seemed very intent on their quarry."

"You should have seen their clothes," Anna interjected. "Lots of fur and armor, especially on their shoulders. The leader had this helmet with two big horns and three slash marks down his face. Not very handsome if you ask me."

"Anna," their mother gently reprimanded, "that's not for you to say. But I do agree that he was unusual."

"How?" Elsa asked.

"Well, he kept asking us if we'd seen anything interesting lately, particularly anything in the sky. He kept calling it a Night Fury."

"Well, perhaps if you give me a description I can look for it here. I can see more of Arendelle from the balcony."

"Yes, the view was quite wonderful." No! Her mother was getting distracted.

"They said it was black with large wings and a long tail." Thank goodness for her father. But that description sounded just like Hiccup! They really were looking for him. "That fellow Dagur insisted that it was here, even though I told him we'd never seen anything like it. I doubt the boy will find anything, though. Dragons aren't real." _Oh yes they are, Father, and I'm keeping one in the room next to this. _But Elsa didn't let her thoughts show on her face and changed the conversation to a more appropriate topic throughout the rest of the meal.

**This is the longest chapter yet, with the reunion, scant as it is, and some very important information. By the way, Elsa is acting like that because she doesn't want her parents to suspect anything. She actually cares a lot for them, even if there are some issues between them.**

**For the next ten reviews, and no monosyllabic ones, please, I'l post another chapter.**


	14. Comfort

_Finally. The quarry he'd razed Berk for was here. It was a shame the other night fury had died, but Hiccup was still there for the taking. It might actually be more satisfying this way, imprisoning and using the person who had given him so much trouble over that other night fury. It was here, in this pitifully soft kingdom, that he would finally get what he destroyed Berk and all its Vikings for. _

_And when he got hold of the runt turned dragon, he would sear his mark into the flesh above his heart and ride him like a subjugated beast. He could feel the chills running up his spine already._

* * *

Elsa's parents left soon after dinner, saying they didn't want to be caught in the darker parts of the night still on the mountains. The route down would be much quicker, so she needn't worry about them. Not that she would. She was more worried about the dragon hiding in his room.

Had Hiccup had enough to eat? Was he too cold? Or worse, had he heard about the man hunting him? No, he needed to hear about that, so he could tell her more about this Dagur and what he wanted from him. In fact, if they'd already been preparing, they could be here any day now. Her parents hadn't said anything about transportation, so they might be coming on foot. That would give the two on the mountain at least a day to prepare, but if they used sleds there was only a matter of hours. So as soon as her family was out of sight, she ran to the wall sealing Hiccup in and knocked. "They're gone, you can blast the door now."

He did just that and walked towards her, brows raised and eyes alert. _Anything interesting happen? _"Well, I told Anna about my powers. Apparently my parents did not think she needed to know. They loved the stone artwork, though. Speaking of which, you'll have to melt off the ice I put over that portrait of you and me in my room."

Momentarily distracted from the more important issue, the two walked up the stairs into her bedroom and Hiccup mustered the smallest blast possible, the same kind Toothless used to use to light lanterns back when Berk was still around. Still, a portion of the ice wall melted away with the cover, letting the shards stick out in a row of bumps and ridges. Elsa quickly repaired the space. "Thank you, Hiccup." But the tone was not at its usual lightheartedness, so Hiccup raised his brows and brought them together, asking a question with his face. _Is there something else?_

She walked over to the bed and sat down at the foot of it with a gentle fwump as she sank into the snow mattress. Hiccup followed and leapt up onto the bed, resting his body along its length and propping up his head and shoulders with his forepaws so he could see eye to eye with the princess. She took a deep breath, and for the first time noticed that Hiccup had a smell. It was the sharp tang of any animal, but the cold from his contact with the ice tickled her nose along with the slight scent of charring. It was no perfume, but not completely unpleasant either. The breath and subsequent discovery set her a little more at ease and made it easier to say the next words. "Someone is looking for you."

The effect on Hiccup was small but immediate. Where his head had been sloped towards her, he now held it straight up and his ear flaps shot up from their previously relaxed and slightly concerned position at half-mast. She calmed him, reassuring. "They're not here now. But my father said they'd seen and spoken with a party looking for a night fury. Are you one?" he nodded, relaxing a bit more. "But my father didn't mention sleds or any good snow transports, so I think they're coming on foot. We have a while to hide you before that Dagur fellow gets here."

She didn't think the name would have an effect on Hiccup. It did. He growled and his brows drew together, making the scales between them rise in ridges down his nose. "Do you know him?" again, he nodded, but now he was more tense than ever, almost rigid. But before Elsa could ask another question, he sprang off the bed and began frantically drawing with his claws on the floor. Elsa watched as the image of a man manifested belong Hiccup's paws. He wasn't especially tall, but had very broad shoulders, and he was covered in a mixture of fur, leather, and armor. The helmet had two very oddly shaped horns, and a tattoo of three slash marks ran down one side of his face. It matched her father's descriptions.

This was the man hunting her friend.

But why?

She repeated the question out loud and in response, Hiccup drew another image, with him chained and his wings bound, Dagur standing in front of him. Elsa got off the bed and inspected the picture closely. With a horrified expression, she looked back up at her friend. "He wants to imprison you?"

The night fury nodded and began drawing another picture. This time it was him flying, but with the other man on his back. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst parts were the lines of leather trailing from Dagur's hands that ended in hooks piercing the membranes of his wings. Elsa looked at her friend again, tears threatening to spill over. "That is how he would fly you?" The dragon nodded, slowly and with his eyes closed.

Elsa got up off the floor. She put her hands underneath his chin. "Don't worry, friend. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." She pressed her hands against the bottom of his jaw, bringing his face forward until their foreheads were touching.

They slept beside each other that night, with Elsa cradled in Hiccup's beautiful black wings. She would not let him go back downstairs. The pictures had been too vivid. She needed to know that he was safe and with her, not chained or flying with disfigured wings. So she clutched at his ear flaps, pressed herself to his broad belly as he cocooned her in the leather of his wings.

Hiccup didn't mind. He had missed her during the day, when he was sealed away from her. And the news of Dagur had scared him, especially since he knew exactly what the Berserker chief would do to him. He'd used it as taunting material often enough when they were fighting over Toothless. So it felt good to hold Elsa, the only good thing that had happened to him since the fall of Berk and his cursing.

Both of them slept easily that night, the nightmares unable to penetrate the warmth and comfort they extended towards each other.

They were woken the next morning by a crash and angry shouts.

**I can't believe we're here at the attack already! An give yourselves a pat on the back for earning this chapter early. She finally held him in the signature pose of this story! Does anyone recognize the quote I slipped in? I love doing that for this story.**

**Sorry for the earlier mix up, I accidentally posted a chapter from my HTTYD story on this one. I'll try not to let that happen again. If you think I could improve this, or there was a particular part you liked, review!**


	15. Attack

"Break through the walls if you have too! We're not leaving until we find Hiccup!" There was a loud clatter downstairs, and the combined noise of yelling and movement woke the pair just in time to hear Dagur's proclamation.

Despite their dire circumstance, Elsa gave her scaly friend a questioning look. How did they know her pet name for him? He growled in an _I'll tell you later _sort of way and rolled off the bed and onto the floor.

The noises got closer and Elsa realized they had only a moment before the intruders…well, intruded on the two of them. With a quick wave of her hand, she threw a saddle onto Hiccup, leapt on top of him, fixed her legs into the stirrups and knocked the doors to the balcony open. Riding garb would have to wait until they were at a safe distance. But just as they leapt into the sky, the doors leading to the staircase crashed open and Dagur barreled through them.

"There he is," screamed the all but mad chief. "Ready your crossbows, men!" Dozens of Berserkers charged into the room, ruining the bedposts and several other pieces of furniture. But the weapons they had aimed at the airborne pair were a great deal more worrying.

Arrows, bolts, and a few spears flew in their direction. Hiccup swerved and dived to avoid the projectiles, but his movements were limited with Elsa on his back with no proper safety straps. Barrel rolls and the like were out of the question.

Dagur saw this and took advantage of it. Hiccup had to admit, out of all the people who could have found him, he'd wished for Dagur the least. Not only did the boy have a series score to settle with the dragon and a sadistic sense of revenge, Deranged had the intelligence to actually capture him. And at that moment, he put it into action. He shouted to his archers, "Get in a circle!"

"What?" one unfortunate man called out.

"Just do it! And keep up the crossbow fire while they get into position. We can't let them get away!" As the spearmen and crossbow wielders kept up the barrage, Dagur prowled around the unit of archers he's dragged up the mountain, shoving them into the formation he needed. He couldn't leave this up to those idiots if it was going to work. This was Hiccup he was facing.

Once his men were arranged in a shallow oval on the balcony floor, Dagur screamed at the other warriors to cease fire. They did, and for a moment Hiccup breathed easily. He'd almost lost Elsa a few times during that barrage. Thankfully, the girl had formed some decent handholds on the saddle before their leap into the sky. He was about to turn tail and fly off when Dagur shouted "Fire!

A circle of arrows shot straight towards him. He was too close to evade in time. If it had been just him, he could have simply tucked in his wings a shot down through the circle, tight as it was. But he had Elsa on his back, and if he did that he would hit a velocity so fast that she wouldn't be able to hold on without at least five straps. And she had none.

The best he could do was a dodge. Hiccup swerved to the right, but not fast enough as he felt three of the arrows tear holes in his left wing. He lost the lift necessary to maintain control of the motion and crashed his newly healed wing into the side of the palace.

Dagur saw the impact and ordered a ceasefire, shouting at everyone to get out of the building and down to where his nemesis was floundering in the snow.

The collision with the wall had forced Hiccup away from the building so he had a few moments to orient himself before the horde reached him, but he'd landed on his newly mended wing and it had snapped in the same place. He would be lucky if it ever healed properly now. But that was the last of his worries as the Berserker warriors came charging at him, the blood crazy Dagur leading the charge. There was no way he was flying out of this.

Elsa had fallen from his back when he crashed into the palace, so she was a good thirty feet from her friend when her head finally stopped spinning from the impact and crazy flight acrobatics. The first thing she saw when the world finally stood still was the Berserker invaders halfway to her friend, whose floundering in the snow made the damage to his wing too apparent. She tried to get up, but found the entire lower half of her body encased in the snow. Even if she melted the mass around her, she still wouldn't be in time to same Hiccup. So instead of getting to him herself, she sent her powers towards the horde.

What happened next was not her fault. If she hadn't sent as big a blast as she did, it wouldn't have encased all the men in ice and left some free to attack Hiccup. If she had tried to control the blast and hit individuals instead of the whole group at once, it would have taken too long and Dagur would have reached Hiccup before Elsa's ice reached Dagur. But she still felt that what happened next was her fault.

The ice blasted forward, driven by her powers. It encased every foe in a shell of ice, keeping them alive for interrogation later and perhaps ransom, however unlikely that might be. Several were stuck in such awkward positions that Elsa would have been tempted to laugh at, if not for what happened next. Just as the ice and power combination reached the front of the group and encased Dagur as he raised his sword to bring it down on Hiccup's wing, the ice surrounding the core of power ran out and the pure magic of Elsa's ice struck Hiccup in the chest. Ice began blossoming out from the center of his body as his heart froze and the rest of him along with it.

**I'll say it right now. I love cliffhangers. I hate to read them, but I love to write them.**

**I seriously stink at writing action scenes, so if this is bad, it's not just you. Still, I think I got the general details down.**

**Review!**


	16. He's Back!

No.

Not again.

Elsa hoisted herself out of the mound of snow and began running towards her friend. Her feet stuck in the snow but she just pulled them up and continued towards him, this time creating an ice path underneath her feet so she wouldn't fall through again. Hiccup also moved, trying to get closer to her, although the ice made his movements sluggish. After a few moments, Elsa racing, Hiccup limping, they met just beyond the group of iced warriors.

As soon as she touched his nose, she knew. He was as cold as ice. A portion of her wondered why he was freezing so much faster than Anna, but Hiccup was a cold-blooded reptile and she'd hit his heart.

She'd hit his heart.

He was going to freeze to death.

Once Elsa laid a hand on his nose, Hiccup cooed softly at her. There was so much he wanted to tell her. _This is alright. _He looked at her with those big eyes, greener than the pines at the foot of the mountain, with more spark than the glittering black stone. He put down a wing for balance and ran one of his forepaws over the front of his chest where the ice had hit and nodded, then twisted and pointed the same paw at Dagur, shaking his head. He looked back and smiled at her, that ridiculous gummy smile that his face shouldn't have been able to make. _I would rather freeze than live like he would have let me._

The sentiment comforted her, but not much. "I should have found another way. I should have used less power-" Hiccup thrust his head forward and brushed his scaly cheek against her pale one. It would have comforted her, if not for the fact that the scales were already cold. She threw her arms around his thick, strong neck. "I should never have cursed you like this."

Hiccup's eyes, previously closed as he cooed comfort, snapped open. He brought back his head and butted Elsa away as he had done so many times before, making her fall into the snow. As quickly as he could manage, the dragon backed away.

Elsa got up and started walking towards him. "Hiccup, what's wrong?"

He screeched at her and continued to back away.

She flinched. "Please, I know I cursed you, but you have to believe that I didn't mean it." But her words didn't seem to make a difference. He didn't stop backing away from her, or screeching at her. Could it be that he saw what she really was, an icy monster? Elsa wouldn't blame him. The girl curled in on herself, falling to her knees in her anguish. But even hunched over, she could not fail to notice the glow.

She looked up, wondering if Hiccup had unleashed a plasma blast at her for condemning him. But he wasn't making the glow. The dragon himself was glowing, and it was getting brighter by the moment. In an instant, the light became too bright to safely look at and a shockwave bowled Elsa over into the snow, accompanied by a sound like a massive explosion.

Elsa didn't dare look up, but she knew something was off. This hadn't ever happened before with any of her powers, not even when she did experiments that were perhaps a little too close to the dangerous side of her powers. Could it be something specific to dragons? Even so, she didn't dare look up until the glow of light through her fingers and eyelids faded.

When she deemed it safe to look up, she expected to see Hiccup, frozen, or exploded. But he was nowhere, icy or not, exploded or not. She got up and walked over to where she'd last seen him, before the light grew too intense. As she approached the spot, Elsa spotted him.

The man lying in the snow was young, about her age if the face spoke truly, with its smooth cheeks but strong jaw. The hair was brown and very messy, but she couldn't tell what color his eyes were because they were closed. But perhaps the most interesting, and embarrassing thing, about him was that he wasn't wearing any clothes. Thank goodness he had drawn his knees up to his chin so she only saw his head and lower legs.

Lower leg.

He was missing most of his left shin. Just like her dragon friend.

She quickly summoned a snow blanket and threw it over him so, even if he moved, he'd preserve some of his modesty. It was a good thing too, because the second it landed on him he uncurled and sat up, eyes now open wide. Elsa gasped. His eyes were the same exact color of Hiccup's. Who was this boy?

The boy just sat there for a moment, staring at the world around him. Then he leapt into action, running his hands all over his body, testing his hands, leg, face, even his ears and torso. He yelled in jubilation and threw himself towards Elsa. "You did it!"

Quite taken aback, Elsa backed up quickly and put her arms up to ward off this stranger who had way too much in common with Hiccup for Elsa's liking. "Hold on. Who are you?"

Then the man looked down at himself and blushed. He wrapped the blanket tighter around himself. "Was I…" He looked up at her, the blush still heavy on his cheeks.

Elsa answered by turning slightly red herself. "I didn't see anything, but yes."

He turned away and began fiddling with a string of his hair. "Sorry. But being cursed to be a dragon and then turned back into a person will do that to you."

**Sorry, but nothing really happened in this chapter. The next one will contain the story of how Hiccup got cursed. However, I will not post it until tomorrow because I need time to write.**

**The inevitable has happened. I have reached the end of what I planed for this story and have massive writers block. What would you like to see?**

**Thanks to June Odyssey for reviewing last chapter like a beast. With their advice, the fight scene from last chapter might turn out halfway decent once I revamp it. Thanks to all of you as well.**


	17. Telling

"Could you start from the beginning again?"

"Oh gods," he mumbled to himself. This would be the seventh time he'd retold the story. He raised his voice and told it again. "My name is Hiccup."

She interrupted, "Yes I know, but what's your real name?"

"That is my real name. But it's not the worst."

"Why would anyone name their child that?"

He shrugged. "Viking tradition. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Anyway, I used to live on the Island of Berk."

"Used to?" She stopped him again, but this time she looked a little worried.

He sighed. Hiccup had given her the abbreviated version of the story, without almost any of the painful details, but she was getting those details now. Perhaps this would be the last time he had to tell it, since it seemed to be sinking in. Why else would she ask so many questions? "My village was razed to the ground, by the same people who just attacked us, actually."

She furrowed her eyebrows in mild confusion. "Why would they do that?"

He shrugged again, but this time with less nonchalance and small dose of pride. "Because we humiliated them again and again, and kept them from the one thing they wanted. It was easy, really. They aren't the most intelligent tribe. Except for Dagur, of course, but one man can only do so much."

"If you beat them before, how did they win that time?"

He passed his hand over his face to buy a moment. This was not going to be easy to talk about, since it was still relatively fresh in his memory. "They caught us at a bad time. We'd just survived an attack from Drago Budvist and his dragon army. We were still recovering from the death of… our chief and repairing the village when Dagur attacked, with a much stronger force than before. But what really made a difference was the witch."

She spelled his troops so they were impervious to flames, so the dragons' effectiveness was halved. The nadders could still shoot spines and zippleback explosions had an effect of sorts, but…"

"Wait." She held up a hand. "What are nadders and zipplebacks?"

This was a question he would gladly answer. "They're different dragon species. Here, I'll show you." He knelt down on the floor and was about to start scratching when he realized, he didn't have claws for that anymore. "Uh…" He turned back to the woman sitting on the bed, now withholding a small laugh. "I don't suppose you have, like, an ice pencil?" Elsa conjured rod of ice, hard enough to scratch the floor. She was getting better at creating different densities in the ice.

He accepted the pencil and started sketching on all fours. When he finished, he sat back on his heels and motioned for Elsa to join him. He pointed to the first picture of a dragon that looked almost birdlike. "This is a nadder. It has the hottest fire of all the dragons, has poisonous spines that it shoots out of its tail, and is vainer than a princess." She glared at him. "Not that you're vain, I just… anyway, a lot of girls love them because of how pretty they are."

"Are they?" The picture didn't look very pretty to her.

"Their coloration is the most vivid of all the dragons and they keep themselves immaculately clean. I'd say they're some of the prettiest dragons around." He looked at her a smiled. "You would have liked them.

She blushed. His smile was crooked but very adorable. She pointed to the next picture, of a round dragon with tiny wings. "What's this one."

He grinned. "That's a gronkle. Not the flashiest of dragons, but it packs more than a few surprises. It makes gronkle iron, a metal lighter than a feather and tougher than steel. I made all my weapons out of the stuff." He turned away from her for a moment. "But I lost it all when…during the battle."

Okay, he was definitely hiding something. She decided to ignore it for the moment and continued asking about the dragons. "What about this one?" She pointed at the image with two long necks and heads.

Hiccup pounced on the distraction. "That's a zippleback. One head breathes an explosive gas and the other lights it. You need two riders to control that one, and it gets especially messy when those two don't work together." He shuddered at the memory of the twins. That was one thing he didn't want to think about for entirely different reasons. "They're also tricky to train because you have to pay equal attention to each head. That's why two riders are better than one."

"Does this one have a special kind of fire too?" Elsa pointed at the last one, with the two sets of horns on its head.

"Yep. He covers himself with his own saliva and then lights it on fire. You do not want to ride an angry monstrous nightmare. Which is most of the time, since they're very prideful and easily upset. Saddles for those guys don't last very long." Elsa giggled at the thought.

But then she noticed something. "You're missing." Hiccup looked at her, one eyebrow raised. "Your dragon form. What type were you?"

He looked away again, and this time Elsa got the distinct impression that he was hiding something again. "I was a night fury. They're the rarest." He stopped the explanation there, as if saying anything further would hurt.

But Elsa pushed ahead. "Was there one before you?"

"Toothless. He was my dragon."

She stopped leaning over the pictures and took his hand, bringing his gaze back around to her. "He was more than that, wasn't he?"

"Yes. He was my best friend."

_Was. _

Elsa let go of his hand and pulled him into a hug. "You miss him, don't you?"

"Yes. I do." Elsa felt the tension leave Hiccup's body and he sagged against her, finally relaxing enough to let the tears slip over the brim of his eyes. Elsa held him like that for a while, letting him sob into her shoulders. When he finally had some control over his breath back, he lurched away from her and wiped at his eyes. "Sorry about that. With what happened after the battle, I haven't been able to…think about it very much."

Yes, mourning your best friend did tend to take a back seat when you were flying for your life. She laid a hand on his arm to assure him that it was alright and spoke softly. "I understand. How did it happen?"

"We were flying, trying to hit the witch. She was the starting point for the spell against fire, so if we could take her out the dragons could do some real damage. We hurt her enough to break her hold over the fire spell, but Dagur threw a spear at the last minute and ripped one of Toothless' wings. He couldn't keep flying after that, so we crashed and Dagur threw another spear." He couldn't tell the next part, and she didn't make him. "The witch was close by, so she cursed me with the little time she had left."

"How did she curse you?" It was something Elsa had been wondering about for a while now. Why had her ice broken the spell?

"Well, since she saw me as a double curse, she gave me the same thing. I had to be cursed again, cursed twice, for it to be broken. I don't know if freezing me really counts, but it seemed to."

But Elsa wasn't thinking about that at the moment. "What did she mean by you being a double curse?"

"Well, the first curse was that I was still alive."

She pulled away from him. "What?"

She instantly regretted the comment when he looked down at his ice-clad chest, face downtrodden. "According to Viking tradition, any kids who are born smaller than normal have to be sent out to sea. If they survive, they're named Hiccup and are treated like the village outcast. I probably wouldn't have survived, so if my parents had followed tradition I wouldn't be alive right now. But my mom was taken away a few days before I was going to be shipped out, so I was allowed to stay since I was the only heir the chief would probably ever have. I'd like to think it was also because my father loved me."

She pulled him in for another hug. "I'm sure he did."

He ran a hand over her hair. "How do you know?"

"Because I love you."

**My writer's block crumbled as soon as I sat down and actually started writing. I was worried over nothing! But I will not be taking this story anywhere near the witch, probably. I create villains as plot devices, not because I'm going to beat them up later. But don't worry, the Parents will get the surprise of their lives in a few more chapters. **

**Please keep reviewing, with specific encouragement or criticism.**


	18. Awkward!

He gaped at her. "What?" Then she realized what she'd just said. She'd just confessed, only hours after his transformation back. She tried to pull away but Hiccup grabbed her wrist and wouldn't let go. He spoke again, but with steel in his voice, along with something else she couldn't put her finger on. "Would you mind clarifying that for me?"

Despite his grip, she pulled at the fingers around her arm. "What is there to clarify?"

He loosened his hold and took her hand in his left one, almost caressing it. "I mean, do you love me as a friend, as family, or…" He went slightly red at the thought, but the slight dusting of color on his cheeks did not compare with Elsa's.

She was beet red as she answered. "It's the last option."

Hiccup blushed, a more reddish brown than Elsa due to the tan of his skin, but both were equally flustered. Well, if she was going to be embarrassed, he might as well give her something to be embarrassed about. "Good, because…you know, I sort of…love…you…too." At that moment they realized just how close together they were sitting and scooted apart, both of them blushing to their ears.

Elsa was mortified. She's slept in the same bed with him only a few hours ago! Granted, he'd been a dragon at the time, but that was no excuse. She cast a shy glance over her shoulder at Hiccup.

He was having much the same conversation with himself. Being a dragon was no excuse for getting that close with someone he'd known he had feelings for since she asked him to model a statue for him. So what if he'd thought he'd never change back? He still shouldn't have been so…intimate with her. He quickly looked in her direction.

Their eyes met and they turned away so fast Hiccup's neck cracked. The blushing intensified. Elsa made a valiant attempt to assuage the awkwardness. "Perhaps we should continue with the story."

Hiccup clung to the lifeline. "Yes. Well," He cleared his throat. "Where did we leave off?"

She brushed her hair back from her forehead, "You were talking about the curse."

"Oh, yeah. Well, my life was the first half. The second was the dragons."

"What do you mean?" It was much less awkward to talk while they had a focus besides each other. So both pressed on.

"I kind of invented living with dragons instead of fighting them." He smiled sheepishly.

She grinned as well. "Sounds like there's a story behind that."

"Can I finish this one first? The other one's kind of long and…emotional." He glanced toward the portrait of Elsa and the night fury. Oh.

She quickly drew his thoughts away from his dead friend and back to the tale at hand. "Alright. So the curse turned you into a night fury? What did you do after that?"

He shrugged, a good sign since it meant he was more relaxed and less tangled in unpleasant memories. Wait, when had she learned to read him so well? He answered lightly. "Mainly tried to avoid Dagur and other unfriendly neighbors. Not every tribe likes dragons the way Berk does, and many places hate night furies in particular."

"Why?"

"Because they're pretty much the ultimate dragon. They never steal food, never show themselves, never miss, and have never been killed. Well, until Toothless, that is." He glanced over at the portrait again.

Elsa knew he was slipping into those darker emotions again so she quickly pulled his attention back to her. "How did you wind up here?"

He smiled a little. "I'll show you." He got up and extended a hand towards her. She gripped it and let him pull her up. Once she was on her feet, the fact that they were holding hands made her blush and she loosened her grip in case he wanted to let go.

But he just tightened his fingers around her palm and led her towards the balcony, pushing one of the doors open with his other hand. He pointed into the distance, beyond the capitol and out over the ocean. "Do you see that mountain? It's almost covered by clouds, but…"

"I see it." It peaked out from the clouds like the crown of a pointy hat.

"Well, I was flying over the ocean when the cold air from the mountain collided with the warm water in the ocean and it whipped up this huge storm. I got caught in the fringes off it and got thrown off course. I was heading south, away from the Barbaric Archipelago. That's the bunch of islands where the Viking tribes live, like the Berserkers and the Meatheads" he quickly amended when he saw her confused expression.

"So you ended up here?"

"No exactly. The storm lost momentum over the ocean as it traveled in this direction, but then the winds from this mountain reinforced the winds until it was a full blown blizzard. I tried to stay on the fringes and avoid the stronger winds, but I couldn't see where I was going through the snow and the patterns changed so rapidly that echolocation didn't do much good. The winds knocked me through the wall and, well, you know the rest. " He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, then stared her in the face as if struck by a new thought. "You didn't make that blizzard by any chance?"

"No. I can, but only when I'm very afraid or angry. That wasn't one of mine."

He propped one of his elbows up on the balcony's railing and plopped his chin into his hand. "Have you ever made a blizzard from, say, being happy?"

She frowned. "No. They generally only happen when I'm feeling unpleasant emotions. That or when I'm concentrating on it, like when we were making the statue together. Why?"

He shrugged, a little more difficult to do with his back bent over and chin in one hand. "I was just thinking."

She grinned. Propping her own elbow up on the railing, she rested her chin in the palm and met his eyes. "What are you thinking about?"

He slipped out of his slouching posture and walked back towards where he'd drawn the nadder and gronkle pictures. He picked up the ice pole Elsa had made for him to draw with and started spinning it between him hands. Elsa watched from the balcony, and she couldn't help but see pieces of the night fury in the man. The leg was obvious, but there were other similarities.

Elsa had outfitted him in a jerkin of ice and some loose pants that ended in a boot on one foot and a prosthetic on the other. He'd drawn a sort of design for it and helped her tweak the model she made until it was almost the same as the one he'd worn after he first lost his leg. He wouldn't say how, but she had a feeling it had to do with the story of the dragons. The clothes hid his physique, but Elsa couldn't forget that first glimpse she'd gotten of him.

Both the dragon and the boy had a sort of understated strength. She walked over to the sketches in the ice and looked at the nightmare. It was an imposing figure, with its lashing tail and long horns. Yet the night fury was far more dangerous, according to Hiccup. The dragon she knew cut an impressive figure in the sky, but if you saw him with that toothless smile, you hardly would have believed the power it could wield.

She looked back at the figure twirling the rod. If she'd seen him in a crowd, she wouldn't have dwelt on him very much. At a glance, she might have noticed his eyes, but it took longer to see the hints of red in his hair, the lithe muscle moving those bones in a sort of grace that wasn't anything like a dance and everything like flight.

He looked at her and she blushed again, embarrassed that he'd caught her staring. But he didn't seem to pick up on her discomfort as he walked closer and grabbed one of her hands. "You're gonna think that I'm crazy, but can I try something?"

She looked into those green eyes, the only thing that was exactly the same from the form she'd grown to love. "What is it?"

"I want to see if you can control your ice powers with positive feelings."

**I took a little inspiration from the series here, with the awkwardness between the two of them. I think it's sweet. I know the storm is hard to believe, but please just bear with it, okay? I had to find some way to get him on that mountain. Hiccup's intelligence starts showing in this chapter a little.**

**Review! I love reading your comments!**


	19. Experimenting

Ten minutes later, the two of them were standing at the foot of the stairs that led up the mountainside to the castle. Doing experiments outside was a good idea, in case Hiccup's hypothesis was correct and Elsa got a little carried away with the positive feelings.

Said princess was still a little uncomfortable, but still curious. "So, how are we going to test this?"

He knelt down and started forming a snowball. "I'm going to make a snowman, and you're going to think about something you love, something that makes you happy. Then you're going to try to melt the snowman."

"Why not let me make the snowman?"

He shook his head. "You have better control over your own ice, so it might just listen to what you want, not because of the feeling you had. I think it's better to start with natural snow." By the time he finished talking, the snowman was completed. It was quite small, but good enough for a first attempt at proving Hiccup's hypothesis correct.

Elsa summoned thoughts of her family, but found that, aside from the obligatory love for her parents and sister, not much positive emotion came from those thoughts. They'd left her up here for two years and the only things her father had talked about with her was her powers and why she didn't keep them concealed.

"Elsa," Hiccup's voice broke through her thoughts. She opened her eyes and saw that he was encased in a thin layer of ice and frowning at her.

She giggled a little. "Sorry. The first thing I tried to think about wasn't very happy."

He smiled at her. "Well try something different!" He yelled encouragingly. He had too. She' trapped him in ice almost fifteen feet away. " I'll try to get out of this ice."

Watching him struggle against the ice gave Elsa an idea. She closed her eyes and this time summoned images of both Hiccups. The dorky smile of the dragon the first time he sneezed and melted one of her chairs transferred over to the human face, and she imagined the gums replaced by slightly crooked teeth. She wasn't sure which version she loved more.

Then Hiccup started whooping. "Yeah!" She opened her eyes and saw that half of the ice surrounding him had already melted. He was grinning at her with almost the exact same smile she'd just been thinking about, except it was excited and not embarrassed. "It's working!" She smiled and closed her eyes again, this time picturing the expressions she'd just seen on his face, blackening the skin and elongating the nose until it was the dragon's visage.

Then someone grabbed her arm and her eyes snapped open and locked with Hiccup's. He smiled. "You did it!"

She looked away from his earnest gaze, a bit uncomfortable with how close he was to her. "Well, it might just have been that I wanted to free you, like you said before. It might not have anything to do with emotions."

He shook his head emphatically. "No, that has to be it! Please Elsa," He grabbed one of her hands, suddenly very serious. "If you can learn to control this, maybe we don't have to stay up here all the time. We could go down into the town, see your family again. This could change everything!"

She looked back at him and saw the spark in his eyes. Running over what he'd said, she noticed one simple fact. He'd said we. He wanted to stay with her, but he also wanted to see more than just the mountain. That was why he was doing this. She brushed his hand off and tucked a stray hair behind her ear, freezing it in place. "Alright. Let's try again."

This time she focused on two things at once, the image of that spark in Hiccup's eyes and the snowman she was supposed to be aiming for. Now that she knew what to concentrate on, she kept her eyes open and watched as the snowman melted faster than ice after one of Hiccup's sneezes. The man was ecstatic at her progress, building snowmen and forts as quickly as he could to test different facets of his now-theory. Elsa continued picturing the man she'd admitted to loving, and the ice and snow didn't stand a chance. But she was very glad Hiccup never asked her what she was thinking of.

After they'd tested the different densities she could melt, the speed at which she could melt, the control she had over the process, and a million other things, Hiccup finally gave in and admitted that they'd done enough for one day and that it was time to eat something and get to bed. Elsa was glad of it. The day had truly been exhausting, with the battle in the morning, very emotional story telling in the afternoon and then this experimenting for the rest of the day. She was about to start getting the food out when she realized that she had no idea what human Hiccup liked to eat. "What would you like?"

He looked up from his inspection of the content of the icebox. "Well Vikings are of the opinion that if it isn't meat, it's not food. Do you have anything that isn't meat?" She laughed at the joke and took out the onion and potato soup she'd made a few days previously, before everyone started visiting and her fare needed to include more people. It took a while to get the fire started, since she had to hunt for the flint she'd used before dragon Hiccup showed up and took over the fires in the castle, but they managed it in the end.

Hiccup babbled on about their discovery all through the meal, thinking of the implications and possibilities. Her designs could get so much more beautiful, since she could melt it if it turned out badly and change small details by melting the ice herself instead of just waiting for the sun to take care of it. He rather reminded her of Anna, talking on and on about designs and rooms and leaving the castle.

The last one brought her back to full attention. She asked, "What do you mean?" Where could they go where she wouldn't hurt people?

He shrugged. "Well now that you can control it, we could go to Arendelle together, deal with the Dagur situation, and maybe even visit the Berk ruins." He glanced down. "I'd also like to find a forge so I can make a better leg. Not that this is a bad one," he quickly reassured, "it's just…I don't want to trip when you get too happy." He swirled his soup around with his spoon. "I would also like to…"

"You would like to what?" She leaned forward. Is he going to say what she thinks he is?

He looked up at her, a little shy but with a strong set to his jaw. "I would like to take you on a date."

**I thought it would be very cool if Hiccup was the one to lead her to the truth about her powers. He's certainly smart enough to think of it.**

**Review and tell me how I can make this better!**


	20. Date

Elsa pulled at her dress. "Hiccup, I'm not sure I can do this."

He grinned at her. "Trust me, everything will be okay." She laughed at his goofy expression and felt some of the tension leave her. She let go of the first real fabric dress she'd worn in a long time and put down her luggage, covering her bag and Hiccup's with a fine dusting of snow to disguise them from any thieves. She walked over to where Hiccup was waiting at the edge of the woods and walked out into the bustle of Arendelle's capitol.

The first thing that hit her was the smell. It was not pleasant by any means. Refuse and dung were woven with the smell of baking bread, ale, people, and some sea air. But the thing that was the most shocking was how warm the smell was. Not a trace of cold anywhere in it, and after smelling nothing but cold for two years, it nearly bowled her over. But Hiccup just took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. He smirked, an expression that promised fun for him but not necessarily for her. "After you, milady." Deciding to play along, Elsa slipped on her queenly mask and strode, dignified, through the streets and into a nearby shop.

Her attitude evaporated the second she inhaled the air inside the small building. Chocolate. She's stumbled into a candy store. The two browsed the racks for a while, looking at the different shapes the confection had been molded into and wondering at the different labels for the flavors. Then the owner of the shop came up behind them and asked if they would like to buy any of the treats they were eyeballing.

Both sheepishly realized that they didn't have any money with them. In their defense, there wasn't much use for such a thing up in the mountains or while turned into a dragon, but they still vacated the shop as quickly as possible. But they couldn't keep from grinning at each other, at least a little.

"Well," Said Hiccup, trying to regain some of his dignity after the confectionary fiasco. "Shall we take a stroll down the docks, milady?"

She entered her persona again, though it was much more difficult this time. "Of course, good sir." Then he offered her his arm.

Not sure exactly of what she was supposed to do, Elsa placed her hand on his lower arm. Seeing the hesitancy, Hiccup decided to help her out a little. It could be that holding your beau's arm was a Viking custom, not one familiar with Arendelle. So he gently moved her hand around his upper arm so that she gripped the inner side of it, coming from behind. The intimacy of the position surprised her and she looked up at the man standing next to her. Hiccup smiled down at her, and she suddenly felt like dozens of snowmen she'd melted yesterday.

They strolled through the town together. But as they got closer and closer to the center of town where the bridge to the palace started, both began to notice the stares they were attracting. "Hiccup?" Elsa squeaked, "Why are they staring?" She was terribly frightened that someone might recognize her, or that her powers might be attracting their attention somehow.

He looked around, noticed the direction of the townspeople's gazes and ran his hand over the one on his arm in a gesture of reassurance. "I think they're just looking at a very beautiful woman. It's nothing to be afraid of."

She blushed at the compliment and then decided Hiccup needed to be embarrassed as well. "Really? Because I think some of the women are looking at something different." Ah, there was the pink on his cheeks.

He tried to cover up his mild blush by clearing his throat and asking, "Well, shall we return to our bags for lunch, milady?"

She nodded, keeping her chin high for the act they seemed to enjoy playing. The fine looking pair of young people, as many of the older passersby commented, walked back to the fringes of the city that led into the mountains where they'd left their bags. Hiccup decided to drop the act. He looked over at Elsa, who was unpacking the bread and dried meats they'd brought with them. "So, I'm a 'good sir'?"

She laughed. "As much as I'm 'milady'."

She expected Hiccup to respond with more sarcasm, but he answered honestly. "Well, then I certainly am a sir. You've always been my lady." She snapped her head up from the food and saw him smiling at her, the same smile that made her powers relinquish their hold and make her feel warm. There was no more talking as they made and ate lunch, just companionship.

While Elsa brushed crumbs off her dress, Hiccup got up and stretched. "What would you like to do next, Elsa?" He looked over at the princess in questioned and groaned inwardly. The expression on her face reminded him of all _those _mornings. What was she planning?

That became evident when she answered his question. "I think it's time to say hello to my family."

"Alright." He went to sit down. "I'll just wait for you to get back, then."

But Elsa wasn't letting him get out of this. So she decided to yank on his sense of honor. "Hiccup, you are courting a young woman, a princess, and haven't even asked her father's permission yet. That is not very honorable."

He groaned. Perhaps he'd told her a bit too much about his old life as the heir to Berk. The strings she'd pulled with that comment would make him dance right into the palace and an angry king. But still, if he wanted this relationship to go any further, he would have to meet her family eventually. So he let the bossy princess drag him back through the town and over the bridge to the open palace gates.

Elsa saw his hands begin to shake in the face of such an imposing structure and even more imposing prospect of meeting her family for the first time. So she wound her hand around his bicep, just like he'd shown her before and squeezed it lightly. He smiled at her, still tense but a little less so, and strode through the open gates.

**Review!**


	21. In the Palace

The guards had not had a very interesting day. A few servants strode through the gates on business, a smattering of townspeople walked in for various reasons, and the occasional tourist wandered in for the sake of the spectacle. He was just about ready to put his spear to the side and set his head on the post next to him for a nap when a very striking couple walked through the doors.

Their clothes were rather plain, but that was the only ordinary thing about those two young people. The woman was tall and slim, but held herself like the queen and seemed to think she owned the place. He would have stopped her and made up some sort of rule about visitors not entering without permission, just to get that look off her face, if not for the fact that the blue eyes and very light blonde hair jogged his memory. The oldest princess had those same distinctive features. Perhaps this girl did really belong here. Besides, if he made up such a rule and she called his bluff, that could lead to real trouble for him.

He liked the look of the man at her side a great deal more. A strong, but lithe lad, he seemed a little nervous and constantly glanced at his female companion for reassurance. The shaggy brown hair and what he could see of the green eyes made him attractive enough to make a decent wingman, although he highly doubted the lad needed to do anything of the sort with a woman like that on his arm. And she was gripping him rather tightly. With the young man's nerves and the lady's possible connection to the palace in mind, the guard let them through, but reminded himself to keep an eye on them and deny he ever let them in if trouble started.

The guard wasn't the only one who noticed. A quick glance in their direction from one of the servants or townspeople was often followed by a double take and long, hard stare. Their looks were part of the reason, yes, but the air surrounding the young couple also drew stares and questions. Who did that girl think she was, the lost princess? And why on earth was her companion so nervous?

The crowd kept their eyes pinned on the couple as they strode through the courtyard without even glancing at the fountains and walked right up to the guard standing in front of the doors that led to the entrance hall. In fact, by the time the woman spoke, the entire courtyard seemed to be just one big pair of eyes, and once she started speaking, ears.

"Excuse me, but I would like an audience with the royal family." The girl's voice sounded through the curious silence of the courtyard.

The guard was used to this sort of thing. Tourists were always asking to meet the royal family, but for the thrill of it or for bragging rights he didn't know. Still, they always allowed it. "Allow me to check their schedule."

He turned, opened the door, and was about to call for one of the servants when the girl spoke up again. "That will not be necessary. The royal family does not have meetings or hold court on Saturdays. They should be able to see us right away."

Alright, now this girl was getting highly suspicious. How would she know that unless she was somehow either linked to the palace, which was unlikely, or a spy? But he couldn't give let her know his misgivings, spy or no. It was best to play along for now. "You are correct, miss. I will call a servant." He did just that, but warned the girl who answered to keep an eye on these two. The girl might have done all the talking, but that just made to man with her seem like he was hiding something. The guard didn't trust either one of them.

The servant girl led them through the halls, slightly nervous. What if they decided to kill her and went after the Royal Family themselves? Or what if they were assassins after Crown Princess Anna? The girl's very active imagination did her no favors as the couple walked through the castle, Elsa nostalgic for her old home, Hiccup nervous at the upcoming confrontation with the king.

Anna and her parents were just finishing their luxuriant lunch when a servant walked in and began whispering in the king's ear. But before she could even get a full sentence out, the doors to the dining hall swung open and Elsa strode in, Hiccup all but clinging to her side.

After the initial shock, the reactions of the three royals differed substantially. The king was mostly furious that she'd risked exposure by coming down from the mountain and a little suspicious of the man with her. The queen was just happy to see her daughter since they hadn't had much time to talk during their visit to the mountains, and was very curious about the handsome young man standing at her side. Anna was just happy to see her sister. The fact that there was someone else in the doorway with her didn't seem to have registered yet.

For a moment, no one moved. Then Anna ran forward and engulfed Elsa in a hug just as Hiccup got out of the way, not wanting to come between the two reuniting sisters. Her father watched, expecting the stiff response he'd seen Elsa give at the castle. Instead, the older girl wrapped her arms around Anna, hugging her tightly and, when they pulled apart, smiling at the younger girl. Anna noticed and didn't break out into babbling. "Anna," the older girl laughed, "I would like you to meet someone." She turned and gestured to the young man standing next to her. "This is Hiccup."

"Hiccup?" Anna laughed. "What kind of name is that?"

The boy lifted an eyebrow. "Nice to meet you too."

She got a handle on her laughter long enough to say, "Sorry. It's just weird. Not that you're weird. It's just your name that weird. You're gorgeous. Wait, what?"

But Hiccup just laughed at her awkward stuttering. "Thank you for summing that up. And you are?"

"Anna," the girl replied, "and these are my parents."

Hiccup looked away from Anna in the direction of her parents and suddenly found the king's face mere inches from his own. He would have stepped back but for the fact that the man grabbed his wrist. "Excuse me," he explained, "but I need to have a little talk with your friend, Elsa." And he pulled Hiccup into one of the adjacent rooms.

When the door locked behind Hiccup, that's when he knew he was in trouble. The man approached Hiccup and got far too close for comfort, all his kingly poise flying out the window in the face of massive suspicion. "Who are you, Hiccup?"

"Uhh…what?"

"Let me rephrase that." The man looked away, as if planning his next question. "Who are you to my daughter?" The king took a step towards Hiccup, forcing the boy back against the wall. "Why are you trying to get close to her? Her powers, her influence?"

"I'm not trying to do anything!" Hiccup all but shouted. This man was making this conversation very uncomfortable. "I just…met her…in the mountains, and-"

"What were you doing in the mountains?" Alright, now the man was far too close for comfort.

"Sir, you're getting too close, you should probably-"

"What were you doing in the mountains?" The king grabbed the boy around his upper arms and was about to shake him when Hiccup wrenched himself out of the older man's grasp.

He pushed past him and into the center of the room, backing away from the king. "I wasn't doing anything! I got blown there by a storm and broke my wing crashing through her wall-"

"You expect me to believe that?" The king was shouting now. "You waltz in here with my cursed daughter and a cock-and –bull story and expect me to-"

"She is not cursed!" Now Hiccup was yelling as well. "She's just different!"

"Different almost killed her sister!"

"And it saved me!"

"What is going on?" Both males looked over at the door where the queen, Anna, and Elsa stood staring as the matriarch glowered at her husband. Elsa groaned inwardly. If the shouting match had been any indication, this was going to get very messy.

**I was watching Rise of the Guardians when I wrote this, so the beginning of North's Center speech helped me write the confrontation with the dad. But don't worry, this isn't over by a long shot. The beginning of the chapter was to give the world's perspective on the two of them, and because I thought it would be fun.**

**Review, please! Your support for this story is amazing.**


	22. Dressing Down

Elsa pulled her frustrations with her father to the back of her mind and let her royal training take over. "Father, Hiccup is my guest in Arendelle. I invited him to accompany me to the castle to meet my family. It is very bad behavior to shout at the guest of a princess."

The man bristled "He is not my guest, and you are not-"

"Furthermore," she cut him off, "He is an ambassador from the chiefdom of Berk and this is not proper diplomacy for such a meeting. Really, Father, where are your manners?"

The man was clearly fuming, but her stinging retorts had silenced him for the moment. Hiccup looked at Elsa with raised eyebrows. Her face twisted from the laugh she was holding in. Then the Queen made her presence known. "Elsa, please escort Hiccup to one of the waiting rooms near the throne room. Anna, go with them. Your father and I will join you shortly."

Elsa crossed the room to Hiccup with a few strides, took him by the arm, and led him out of the room while the queen glared at her husband. The door closed behind them and he turned to the two girls. "I'm not sure we should…"

"Oh trust me," Anna whispered conspiratorially. "You do not want to get between those two. Come on, I want to show you guys the portrait hall." The three ran off into the castle, unaware of the storm left behind them.

* * *

Once she heard the door close behind her, the queen walked up to her husband and smacked him right across the face. "You utter clotpole," scorned the queen as she glared at her foolhardy husband. "Do you know who Elsa brought to the castle and who you just shouted at?"

"Yes!" He was not stupid, and did not like being treated as such. He'd led this kingdom and kept it out of war, made it a center of commerce and kept the people happy! He would not be spoken to like this! "He is someone trying to get to our family so he can bring us down."

She stepped away from him and drew back her hand again for a more powerful blow. "And how would he have done that?"

"By learning about her powers and using the knowledge against us."

She let the hand fly. "If he was that sort of person, do you think he would come into a palace full of guards unarmed?" There, now his hackles were smoothing down and she could talk some sense into him. "You know as well as I that people who have ignoble intentions always think the same of everyone else to a certain degree. What about the man Elsa brought indicates such a thing?"

Her argument was a sound one, but the king was still fuming. " How do you know he wasn't hiding something in his clothes like the assassin from last year?"

"Honestly, dear," she scoffed. "With clothes like his, weapons pull at the fabric and leave very distinct creases. I didn't see anything of the sort on him."

That gave him pause. "How did you know that?"

And she gave him a small smile. "Did you really think, after someone tried to kill me, that I didn't take precautions? I carried concealed weapons for over a month after that. I know what they do to clothes."

The king was now thoroughly deflated, but he still had questions. "Then why was he here?"

"Didn't you listen to what Elsa said? She brought him here to introduce him to us. Now why do you think a girl would bring a boy home to her father?" She saw the realization dawn on his face. "Yes, darling, she's most likely in love with him, and hopefully, he with her." She turned around so he couldn't see the massive smile on her face. "That means you just shouted at your possible son-in-law." There, she heard him blanch. Oh, this was too much fun. She couldn't wait until Anna found a boyfriend and she could do this all over again.

* * *

Elsa couldn't help but grin as her sister pulled Hiccup through the palace. The expression on his face was new to her, free of sarcasm and guile, just open curiosity. But they weren't walking through any extraordinary areas, just hallways and the like. She wanted to see what his face looked like when she took him to the observatory or giant clock tower.

Ahead of her, Anna pushed open the doors to the art gallery and pulled Hiccup through, Elsa trailing behind. Anna walked forward, intent on taking the young man through the room, but his hand released her fingers and slipped out of her grasp. She turned and saw him staring, wide-eyed, at the art surrounding them. Then he bolted for the nearest painting, one of a maiden swinging. "How did you do this?"

Anna opened her mouth to answer. "This is done with paint, like Kristoff and I told you back at the castle," Elsa answered, walking over to where Hiccup could barely keep his hands from running over the covered canvas.

He looked over at her, and something about his eyes struck a chord inside Anna. "Do you think I could try this?"

Elsa smiled, and Anna saw that it wasn't the same smile her sister used on her. That smile was indulgent and loving, but the one she fixed on Hiccup was... something else. Suddenly Anna couldn't breathe. She couldn't believe it.

Her sister had fallen in love.

Anna sat down on a nearby couch and listened to the two of them discuss art projects and what it could add to their home in the mountains.

"Maybe, instead of using blue paint, you could freeze that part of the canvas instead. It would give the painting a glittery feel."

"What about making frames out of the black and red stones? There's probably a decent stonemason here in the city. Which reminds me, we still need to find a smith for your leg."

That comment seemed odd to the younger princess. Her gaze traveled down the man's figure and landed on his left leg. She gasped.

Hiccup heard the sound and looked at Anna. "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just…" she gestured at his leg, "I hadn't noticed before."

He smiled. "It's fine." Then he dove back into his conversation with Elsa, this time asking about the different smithies she knew, which weren't all that many. She'd never really been out in the town. They made plans to go and look for a shop the next day, maybe with some help from one of the guards, if they could convince Elsa's father to lend them a guide.

After a while, a servant entered the room and told Hiccup that the king wanted to see him. The nerves that had settled during his impromptu tour of the castle and the following discussions about paint and smithies sprang back into anxious action. The man had shouted his head off when he thought Hiccup knew his daughter. What would be his reaction when he asked permission to court her?

**I absolutely loved writing the kings' dressing down at the queen's hands. How did you guys like it?**

**I have finished writing the chapters for this story and just need to post them, so here's a review challenge. Ten reviews on this chapter and I will post the next one. **


	23. Formalities

Hiccup's anxiety grew as they were led through corridors growing grander with every step. Elsa noticed and stepped up beside him, taking his arm as he had shown her what now felt like weeks ago but in truth was only a few hours ago. "Where are we going?" The young man asked the blonde.

"We're going to the throne room."

He stiffened. "Why?"

She looked away. "I might have told him you were an ambassador from Berk. Now he wants to receive you as one."

If he had been tense before, Hiccup was positively rigid now. But, as they continued walking down the hallways, the nervous nature of the stiffness seemed to give way to confidence. His stride lengthened and his shoulders straightened. She wondered at the change, until he started mumbling. "He's just another chief, just another chief. I've faced skrills and whispering deaths, I can handle a king." She smiled and held on tighter.

He felt the grip on his arm tighten and his pep talk halted as he looked at the beautiful woman beside him. If he wanted those beautiful blue eyes and deceptively mischievous spirit to stay in his life, he had to face this challenge and come out on top. His father had faced the same challenge with Valka's family, and he had come out of it alright.

That had been quite a night, the two of them sitting together. It was one of the rare moments after the Defeat of the Red Death, when neither had pressing dragon or chief business and they could sit and enjoy each other's company. During that particular conversation, Hiccup had told his father that he was planning to ask Astrid's father if he could court her.

His father had grinned and responded, "I hope you've thought about how you're gonna do it, son. Asking for courtship permission is harder than wrangling a nightmare."

The younger man leaned forward with his elbows on the table. "How did you do it?" He loved hearing stories about his mother, especially since he didn't remember much about her.

"Well," the big man leaned back in his chair and swiped a hand over his mouth to remove all traces of mead, "I walked up to their door and banged on it. Your mother's father came out and asked what I wanted. I told him I wanted to court his daughter."

"What happened next?" Hiccup was eager to hear more, especially since his grandfather was another person he'd never really met.

"He called down Valka and asked her." The man laughed at the memory. "She was so surprised she almost forgot to answer the question. So her father asked her again. He said 'Do you want to court this boy? He's a strong lad with a good future, Valka.' She walked past him, looked me up and down. I was so nervous by that point I was surprised I was still standing. But I'll never forget what she said."

"What did she say?" Hiccup urged. This was a story he'd never heard before.

"She said, 'Well, let's see if he's afraid of drowning.' And that was the end of it. We courted each other, and eventually got married and had you. But if you're thinking about marriage, you might as well start thinking about some of your other responsibilities, son." And from there he'd launched into a talk about him taking over the chiefly duties. The next morning he'd run off, scared by the impossibility of becoming his father.

The next day, well, he found out why his mother's reply had been so special. And he'd been glad to have that conversation before he lost his father for good. Now that he thought about it, he never did get to ask to court Astrid. After the battle, he'd been too busy with his chiefly duties and repairing the village. Then the war with Dagur and the cursing had denied him any chance of a relationship with Astrid but given him someone far more precious. So here he was, with the same question but about a very different girl.

He looked at the woman beside him again and silently compared him to his previous crush. Both were strong, but Elsa in a less obvious way, with more mischief and less axe throwing. Both girls had been beautiful, But where Astrid was all punches, spikes and hard edges, Elsa was soft and just chilly enough to make you wary of hurting her. Both women were similar and had captured his attention, but only one held his heart, truly. He was very glad to have saved this question for Elsa's father and not tarnished it with a previous asking, as much as he had liked Astrid back then. They were at the doors to the throne room now. The servant in front of them pushed the panels of wood open and allowed the couple through.

Inside was beautiful, with walls covered in lavish color and a sizeable crowd gathered in the hall. The king was either ensuring that protocol was followed or trying to intimidate him. Based on their earlier shouting match, Hiccup was guessing it was the latter, and it wouldn't work. Try scaring a man who faced down an entire dragon army with a medium number of courtiers, and you will fail miserably. Especially when those people were nowhere near as imposing as the ones he'd grown up with, because really, there aren't many people more frightening than a bunch of Vikings wanting to ship you off the island because they thought Thor was mad at your dragon.

The king rose from his throne and walked forward, slowly and with great dignity. Elsa stepped forward, letting Hiccup know he was supposed to do the same, though much quicker than the king. The pair progressed until they were standing at the foot of the dais that the thrones rested on, with her father at the top of the stairs looking down at them. Finally, the silence broke as the king said, "Welcome, Hiccup of Berk, to Arendelle."

Hiccup gave a small bow and replied, "Thank you, your majesty."

"I look forward to introducing you to our fine kingdom, and I hope you enjoy your stay." Then the man turned, his cloak fanning out behind him dramatically and sat back down in his throne and called various members of the assembly to attention to give reports and whatnot. Hiccup let Elsa lead him to a pair of empty chairs and gave him a reassuring smile. He'd done well so far. Now he just had to get permission to court her. For a moment, he wished he'd had the practice round with Astrid's dad.

**I know you were all expecting Hiccup to ask, but I thought a little history was due, specifically about Astrid.**

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews! Please keep commenting.**


	24. Permission

"Sir, I would like permission to court your daughter." To his surprise, Hiccup's voice remained steady while he asked the rather imposing king this question.

The man wanted to refuse the request simply because he didn't want anyone to date Elsa and find out about her powers. Then a sharp pain below reminded him that she already knew. "Why court and not simply date?"

The queen withdrew her foot and listened intently for the young man's answer. He replied evenly, "I already love her, so we don't need to date to figure that out about each other."

The king nodded. It was a good answer, but he still didn't fully trust the man with his daughter. "You do realize that, should you marry my daughter, you will be a part of the royal family, perhaps even king if we give Elsa back the title of heir to the throne."

"Yes, and I am fully prepared to fulfill such a position." He smiled, an action that made the queen also grin at his slightly crooked teeth. "I was the chief of my tribe before the war, after all. How different can ruling a kingdom be compared to that?"

That got the king's attention. "You were chief? Of where?" And why was he here, gallivanting with Elsa if he had a people to care for?

The lad's face darkened and the queen wanted to hit her husband for digressing into obviously sorrowful territory. This was supposed to be about him and Elsa, not where he was from. But Hiccup answered anyway. "I was chief of Berk."

"Why haven't we ever heard of this Berk before?" The queen stomped on his foot again, but it was a valid question.

A valid question that Hiccup, apparently, wanted to answer. "Berk is a small island far to the north, a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. You might have heard of it." They had. The furs from that area were particularly thick and warm. "Most people haven't heard of it because, due to the 300 year dragon war, we didn't have time for much diplomatic action with other tribes and countries far away. And then we needed to keep the dragons a secret."

The king leaned forward. Forget courtship, he wanted an ally in this man's country. "So if we were to send ambassadors?"

The young man's face darkened again. "You can't. Berk is gone."

After that, the king asked question after question until he got most of the painful story out of the lad. His honesty was refreshing and his open face reassured that the boy was telling the truth. He decided he liked the boy. The queen obviously did, if the foot hovering over his toes was any indication. "It's a very interesting history. I look forward to hearing more about it when you and Elsa join us for a family meal tonight."

He perked up at that, and dared to ask, "Does that mean I have your approval?" The king nodded.

Hiccup fought very hard not to jump into the air and fist pump like his cousin would have. He was still in the royal presence, after all. The king excused the lad and the minute he was out of the room and a ways away from the doors, he let loose. "Yes! Ah, this is amazing! I have to tell Elsa!" And he ran off to find the lucky lady.

Dinner that night was more enjoyable than anyone expected. Anna asked Hiccup dozens of questions about how he and Elsa had met, and he ended up giving her almost all of the story, from the taming of the dragons to Dagur's attack. The king listened closely to that part as well, noting the details of Viking fighting and asking Hiccup about how to combat such weapons. The boy was quite knowledgeable in that department. For example, when he asked about how to deal with an ax fighter, Hiccup smiled. "Well that depends on what sort of weaponry you have. If you have a blade, like a sword or dagger, try to get to the person first. If you can't, cut through the haft of the ax. It makes it basically useless since, if it loses even a little of the handle, it'll be off balance and throw the fighter off balance too. They're easy to defeat after that."

The king chuckled. "You speak as if from experience."

Hiccup laughed back, but there was a small edge of sorrow to the sound. "I do. One of my best friends was an ax fighter, and she loved to spar. I also made most of the weapons for Berk, so I know how to make something useless."

The king would question him about the "she" in that statement later, but not while Elsa was around. He had that much tact. But back onto the subject of weapons. "What about archers?"

The young man shrugged. "Don't get shot, and either take them out or break their bows. But don't let them get the high ground. The dragons helped with that." The king nodded. Then the main course of turtle soup was served and conversation halted for a while as the royal family plus one enjoyed the fragrant dish.

Conversation may have halted, but Hiccup was still under observation. The king might have thought his wife had no problems with allowing Hiccup to court Elsa, but she watched the boy very carefully around her daughter. If he laid a finger on Elsa without her permission…

But he didn't. The boy was a perfect gentleman, pulling out her daughter's chair and keeping up conversation with everyone and not just the icy princess. She'd seen some princes with worse behavior than this boy. And Vikings were supposed to be barbarians!

After dinner, the two lovebirds were offered rooms in the palace, an offer they gratefully accepted. "I didn't think we'd make it back up the mountain in the dark," Hiccup admitted as Anna showed him to one of the guest rooms.

"Well, this makes it official. Father likes you. He wouldn't have let you stay, otherwise," Anna assured. She liked him too. In Elsa hadn't made her feelings for him obvious, Anna might have gone after the young Viking herself. He was certainly dreamy enough.

Anna showed him around his luxurious room and closed the door behind her. Hiccup walked towards the bed and collapsed on top of it. Why couldn't today just be a simple date for him and Elsa? _Still, _he smiled to himself, _I officially have her parents' blessing now. That might be worth the tense afternoon. _So he slipped deeper into sleep, happy in the knowledge of one less barrier between him and the girl who taught him to love again.

**The queen made sure he got permission. The next chapter is the last one.**

**Review!**


	25. Finite

Hiccup rubbed at an imaginary scuff on the bottom section of his prosthetic and fastened it back onto his foot, shaking the appendage slightly to make sure the straps were secure. He did not want to stumble walking Elsa up to the altar. But the straps were secure, of fine leather that fastened onto yew wood and iron, both of which gleamed with polish for the occasion. And what an occasion it was.

People from all the nearby countries had flocked to the palace for the wedding of the century. The young, mysterious princess of Arendelle was marrying the boy who captured hearts wherever the king sent him as an ambassador, particularly in the Northern areas. The man had started giving him those missions about seven months ago, only a week or two after he asked Elsa to marry him. It was excellent training, and broadened his scope of the world. So what if it also had the side effect of leaving Elsa alone to spend quality time with her family and learning how to raise one of her own? The king didn't have to explain his motives.

But those missions had certainly paid off. The throne room, rearranged for the ceremony, was close to overflowing with guests. All thirteen of the brothers from the Southern Isles were there, even Hans. He had had words with the older brothers about how they treated the youngest. It had been too close to his own childhood for comfort. Well, they were certainly including him in things now. Hiccup watched their antics, grateful for the distraction from his own nerves, and the sword hilt that was jamming into his side. Then the music started and suddenly, none of that even registered in his mind.

He was about to get married.

To Elsa.

And there was Anna, the maid of honor walking down the aisle with his best man Kristoff. Really, who else would he have chosen? The man had been the first person he'd met here, and they'd liked each other even while he was a dragon. Besides, Anna seemed very comfortable with him, and Hiccup couldn't wait for his speech at the reception.

A chilled wind blew all thoughts of the reception out of his head as Elsa stepped through the grand double doors and into the room. The trail of her dress left frost patterns along the floor as she processed towards him, holding her father's arm the same way Hiccup had taught her almost a year ago.

Slowly, the stately, decorated king processed Crown Princess Elsa up the aisle. He wanted to laugh at the tight grip with which she held his arm. His little girl, all nervous and flustered and not showing even a fraction of it. And now he was surrendering her. But at least it was to a man he now trusted, and who had solved the problem of her powers so he could have at least one year with her before the young man at the front of the room received her.

When the two of them stood at the front of the room together, the crowd sighed with contentment. In most weddings, the bride is the star, but these two were equally brilliant. Hiccup wore no metals, no fancy hat, but the bright white of the tailored suit made the brown of his hair, the shine of his leg, and the green of his eyes stand out like a candle flame in a dark room. Elsa was also in white, the white of the snow she loved so much, a love that repeated in delicate embroidery all the way down her dress from the modest collar to the end of the five foot train. Some would later say that the dress wasn't cloth at all, but the princess's own ice. The tiara certainly looked like it was; crystals that fractured the light and let rainbows dance over the crowd and her in-a-moment husband.

Most of the ceremony barely registered in the heads of the assembly, they were so intent on the bride and groom. The words of the priest's sermon talked about love, loyalty, and trust, but the crowd felt like the speech was contained much more beautifully in the way Hiccup never let go of Elsa's hand. Then the vows were upon them. The two walked to the front of the room and turned to face each other before the assembly. Then Hiccup began to speak.

"You are the reason I am alive. You have healed my wings, melted my heart, and taught me to love again. I promise to do the same for you." He reached out and took her other hand. "If you break, be it in body or spirit, I will mend you. If the fear of what you hold overruns you, I will strike down whatever causes such fear, be it within or without. And if you ever feel there is something you must learn, I will teach it to you or learn alongside you. I will remain as faithful as a dragon, as pure as an ice palace, treat you like a queen, and love you more than anything until the day I die."

Many in the crowd brought out embroidered handkerchiefs during Hiccup's vow, including the queen. But Elsa just smiled at the man who had promised her his life. Now it was time to return the favor.

"I fell in love with you gradually. Your constant presence banished my loneliness, your curiosity has expanded my world, and your love has grounded me in myself. Now I give all of it back to you." She squeezed his hands. "If you are lonely, however it came to be, I will banish it. If your curiosity demands that you travel and discover, I will not keep you bound to me, but know you will come back. And if you ever forget who you are in the midst of something bigger than yourself, I will remind you or rediscover yourself with you. I will remain as faithful as a dragon, as pure as an ice palace, treat you like a king, and love you more than anything until the day I die."

Then Kristoff came forward with the rings, forged by the groom himself. Elsa's ring contained a large diamond, cut in a circular pattern reminiscent of snowflakes. Around the edges were tiny fragments of the black stone, their first discovery together. His was a simple band of gold, but with two wires, one of black gold and one of white gold, twined together and set into the band. They were perfect.

Elsa picked up the band of gold and took Hiccup's left hand. "This ring I give to you is my love and devotion to you manifest. I pledge to you all that I was, all that I am, and all that I will ever be as your wife. With this ring, I marry you and join my life to yours."

She slipped the ring over his knuckle and onto his ring finger, where it fit perfectly. "Just like you," he whispered to her, making her smile.

Then he took her left hand and fingered the gemstone. "This ring I give to you is my love and devotion to you manifest. I pledge to you all that I was, all that I am, and all that I will ever be as your husband. With this ring, I marry you and join my life with yours."

Then the priest gave him permission. He lifted the delicate film of icy lace that covered his beloved's face and placed it over the top of her tiara, letting it flow down her back with the rest of the veil. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes as his hand cupped her ear and lips graced her own.

It was a warm touch, with Elsa's soft lips born of hours indoors and Hiccup's slightly rougher ones, the product of many sea voyages and hours in the forge creating the rings. They separated quickly, mindful of their audience for the first time since the start of the ceremony.

Then the organ started playing and the newlyweds practically raced each other out of the throne room, a far cry from the stately procession. The starting line had been a wall in an ice palace. The halfway mark was a battle.

They had fought the good fight.

They had finished the race.

They had kept the faith in each other.

Now it was their turn to enter paradise.

**I absolutely loved writing this. If anyone wants to write a story that takes place during the months I skipped over, I would love to see it. But the courting wasn't what this story was about. By the way, the last part is a slightly tweaked Bible verse. My Catholic upbringing rears its head!**

**Thank you for all the support of this story, but I now have to say that this is the end of it. I hope you enjoyed Beauty and the Beast, even if it wasn't quite what you expected.**


End file.
